Prescription errors delay Blackpool patient discharges report says

According to a report to councillors, “40 per cent of discharges written contained one or more errors” on some wards at Fylde coast hospitals.

Clarifying instructions with doctors holds up patients from being sent home.

Improvements have now been made as part of a raft of measures which have reduced the average times it takes to turnaround prescriptions by 20 minutes.

The figures are contained in a report to a meeting of Blackpool Council’s adult social care and health scrutiny committee.

It is the latest update for councillors in response to their concerns about patient discharges taking too long, particularly due to the delayed issuing of prescriptions, which then blocks beds needed by newly admitted patients.

The report by medical director Dr Jim Gardner and deputy director of operations Joanne Bark, at Blackpool Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust, said more streamlined processes were now in place.

This meant ward based teams are now “carrying out many actions which would have previously waited for already busy junior doctors to complete.”

Monitoring by the Pharmacy Department has found the average turnaround time for discharges through the dispensary in July 2020 was 69 minutes, down from 89 minutes in July 2019.

But the report adds: “It is acknowledged that delays do occur when there are errors or queries on discharge letters and the teams await prescribers to clarify.

“We have previously audited this (excluding the wards with pharmacy led team) and identified approximately 40 per cent of discharges written contained one or more errors.

“In light of this finding several improvements have been put in place.”

It is also hoped to ramp up the Home First service which was introduced in 2018 to assist in getting patients discharged more quickly.

The service checks out care and rehabilitation packages for people at home with less then two per cent of patients needing to return to hospital following assessment.

Currently it carries out around 18 visits per week but it is hoped to increase this to 50 visits per week this winter.

Councillors will discuss the report when the committee meets via Zoom on Thursday September 17.