NHS Dispensing Errors

NHS or the National Health Service offers various medical services to the citizens of the UK including general practitioners, long term healthcare, ophthalmology, in-patient care and dentistry. Most of the services are free of charge at this point in time to the public for use of any of the services. The NHS is the largest health service in the world besides being the third largest employer in the UK.

NHS mistakes are something that has been circulating for a few years now, but certain stories show that these are actually on the rise. One of the major concerns is the dispensing errors at the hospitals. Though comparatively the error occurs on a small scale it poses a major threat as it has a large scale effect on the patients who consume the wrong drug or under wrong directions. The mistake is identified or detected only after the item has left the pharmacy and is totally under the responsibility of the chief pharmacist. NHS cover ups are a gradual result of NHS mistakes and this is what caused mass public outrage all over the country.

Reports conclude that about eighteen percent of 100,000 drugs were dispensed wrongly and were identified by hospital staff such as nurses, pharmacists or the patients themselves. Several chief pharmacists across various NHS hospitals agreed on committing some common mistakes such as supplying wrong drug to a patient, or the right drug in wrong quantities or giving wrong directions. They confirmed that the drugs had more than fifty percent chance of having detrimental effects and in a few rare cases would lead to fatality. This is just one of the NHS cover ups that has been brought to light.

All the NHS mistakes for dispensing drugs led to the establishment of many studies taking place to identify the most common errors and the top ten wrongly dispensed drugs. These studies helped pharmacists to reduce the percentage of errors by working closely with the pharmaceutical industries and healthcare professionals to avoid errors with look alike or sound alike drugs. Also a website working for the same purpose has been established. It is a small comforting fact that the dispensing errors and NHS cover ups in this department are no longer dismissed as minor mistakes and are now taken seriously.