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Pharmacy department

Story from nhs.uk

"Pharmacy department"

About: New Cross Hospital

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Unfortunately, a very exceptional stay in the cardiology department was spoiled by a totally incompetent performance by the Pharmacy department. My husband was given the all clear to go home at 11.30am. By 4.00pm we were still waiting for his discharge medication, despite 3 visits from staff on B14 ward visiting the pharmacy department to obtain this. When it did arrive, it was short of a vital prescription. I myself went down to ask them where the rest of the tablets were, and surprisingly enough, despite insisting they had gone tot he ward, were then suddenly able to say they were ready. The ward staff had to go back down then to retrieve the final tablets. 5 hours following his promised discharge.This was the experience all patients seemed to receive, a wait of 4-5 hours which is such a completely in-efficient way to run a department, and provide best care. Surely, everyone hopefully is discharged, so could the pharmacy not either speed up the provision of medication, or be alerted the day before? 0 out of 10 I am afraid, you have let the side down. Even the Consultant apologised for the inexcusable delay.

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Responses

Response from Jamie Emery, Patient Experience Lead, The Royal Wolverhampton NHS Trust 10 years ago
Jamie Emery
Patient Experience Lead,
The Royal Wolverhampton NHS Trust

Submitted on 01/11/2013 at 09:06
Published on Care Opinion at 09:57

Thank you for comments about your experiences of Pharmacy; we were truly sorry to hear about the delays you have described here.

The problem of dispensing take home medication in a timely way is one which many acute hospitals struggle to deal with. The demands placed on a pharmacy service in a large busy hospital are considerable and there is a view in the NHS that more can be done in terms of setting patient's expectations at the point they are told they are ready to go home or be transferred.

Through previous discussions with our patient forum on the subject we know that our Pharmacy's average turnaround time from receipt to dispensation is c2 hours. Sometimes however, patients are advised they can go home way in advance of the actual prescription reaching the pharmacy. So a patient's internal clock on how long the medication is taking will generally start when they are told they can leave our care, in reality pharmacy may not learn of this until much later in the day.

It is a system wide approach we need to take to address this and is very much on the Trust's agenda as we are aware of how this impact's on patients and relatives' experiences.

Thank you again for your comments which we will share across the organisation.

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Response from New Cross Hospital 10 years ago
New Cross Hospital

Submitted on 06/11/2013 at 12:22
Published on nhs.uk on 07/11/2013 at 03:00

Thank you for comments about your experience of Pharmacy; we were truly sorry to hear about the delays you have described here. The problem of dispensing take home medication in a timely way is one which many acute hospitals struggle to deal with. The demands placed on a pharmacy service in a large busy hospital are considerable and there is a view in the NHS that more can be done in terms of setting patient's expectations at the point they are told they are ready to go home or be transferred. Through previous discussion with our patient forum on the subject we know that our Pharmacy's average turnaround time from receipt to dispensation in c2 hours. Sometimes however, patients are advised they can go home way in advance of the actual prescription reaching the pharmacy. So a patient's internal clock on how long the medication is taking will generally start when they are told they can leave our care, in reality pharmacy may not learn of this until much later in the day. It is a system wide approach we need to take to address this and is very much on the Trust's agenda as were are aware of how this impact's on patients and relatives' experiences. Thank you again for your comments which we will share across the organisation.

  • {{helpful}} {{helpful == 1 ? "person thinks" : "people think"}} this response is helpful
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