NHS Resolution: Learning from medication errors

Summary

Medication errors are any Patient Safety Incidents (PSI) where there has been an error in the process of prescribing, preparing, dispensing, and administering, monitoring or providing advice on medicines. Medication errors can occur at many steps in patient care, from ordering the medication to the time when the patient is administered the drug.

From April 1 2015 to 31 March 2020 NHS Resolution received 1,420 claims relating to errors in the medication process. Of those claims, 487 claims settled with damages paid, costing the NHS £35 million (excluding legal costs).

NHS Resolution initial data for medication errors indicates that anticoagulants, opioids, antimicrobials, antidepressants, and anticonvulsants are the most common medications to be implicated in incidents.

Content

To share learning from clinical negligence claims with healthcare professionals, NHS Resolution has now published a suite of six information leaflets relating to medication errors. The ‘Did You Know’ series covers:

• Maternity
• Heparin and anticoagulants
• Extravasation
• High-level medication errors
• General Practice medication errors
• Anti-infective medication errors