Improving safety with medicines management

The safe and effective use of medicines forms an important part of making people well and maintaining their health.  However, since the Care Quality Commission launched its ‘fundamental standards’ in April 2015, the focus has increasingly shifted towards quality and safety, with a particular interest in the role of medicines management in maintaining and improving patient safety. 

Studies by the National Patient Safety Agency have shown that of over 500,000 medication incidents, between 2005 and 2010, 16% involved actual patient harm. Many of these incidents would have been preventable by improving processes and training related to the management of medication. 

Research among 200 healthcare staff suggests that there is significant room for improvement – just 28% of healthcare staff are completely confident about patient safety in their hospital. Given the clear link between medicines management and patient safety, it is very concerning to learn that the survey also found that just 24% of healthcare staff are completely confident about the standards of medicines management in their hospital. But do they know how to improve?