Summary
This Healthcare Safety Investigation Branch (HSIB) report sets out a case where a medication error with warfarin contributed to the death of a 79-year-old man. The patient had suffered a fall at home and had been admitted to hospital. An error on his chart whilst he was on the ward led to him receiving four or five doses of warfarin, which he did not normally take, before the error was spotted by a ward-based clinical pharmacist. The patient developed internal bleeding and deteriorated (due to several health reasons) and died 21 days after his first admission.
Research published this year suggests that medication errors may directly cause around 712 deaths per year and indirectly contribute to 1,708.
The report highlights the growing ageing population and that pharmaceutical care of older people can be complex. They are often taking multiple medications and are at the greatest risk of harm due to medicine-related errors.
Content
Recommendations
As a result of the national investigation, HSIB has made three safety recommendations to facilitate better understanding of the role of the ward-based pharmacist, and to encourage best practice and resilience when identifying and developing models of pharmacy provision.
- It is recommended that NHS England and NHS Improvement carry out work to understand and further define the work of hospital clinical pharmacy teams, including the period between initial medicine reconciliation and discharge, in consultation with relevant stakeholders.
- It is recommended that the Royal Pharmaceutical Society, supported by NHS England and NHS Improvement, should provide guidance on models of hospital clinical pharmacy provision. The guidance should provide information on the models’ ability to enhance safety and healthcare resilience and include consideration of the appropriate skill mix and experience within the clinical pharmacy team.
- It is recommended that the NHS Specialist Pharmacy Service should update its resource on the prioritisation of hospital clinical pharmacy services to facilitate the dissemination of developments in good practice and policy with respect to pharmacy prioritisation and the issues highlighted in this report.
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