NEWS
OMNICELL LAUNCHES NEW SAFE CAMPAIGN AT CLINICAL PHARMACY
CONGRESS Omnicell UK & Ireland, provider of automated healthcare solutions and medication adherence packaging, used the recent Clinical Pharmacy Congress show at London ExCel (12th &13th May), to launch a new campaign, SAFE: Safeguard Against Frontline Errors.
The campaign aims to raise awareness and promote best practice standards of care within the management of medication across the NHS, in-line with key recommendations from both the Lord Carter report (February 2016) and the subsequent CQC report into patient safety within the NHS (March 2017).
The administration and management of medication is paramount to optimise safety and efficiency within a hospital, care home or community setting. In 12 months, between October 2015 and September 2016, more than 190,000 medication errors involving the prescribing, dispensing or administering of drugs were reported in England to the NHS National Reporting and Learning System (NRLS)1. These errors include giving the wrong medicine, the wrong dose of the right medicine, or even giving medicine to the wrong patient. The majority, nearly 150,000, were reported in hospitals. Yet, technology exists via innovative digital dispensing and management systems which can dramatically reduce, if not eradicate these errors in hospitals.
Without doubt, nurses and frontline staff are stretched and working under increasing pressure, with significant numbers of patients on complex medication regimes. The SAFE campaign aims to throw the spotlight on the importance of providing a safety net for the administration of drugs to help support our much- valued NHS workforce.
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Effective inventory management, minimising stock-outs and reducing missed doses are just some of the many benefits of automated dispensing systems, as well as freeing up pharmacy and nursing staff time to focus on face- to-face patient care. Yet, surprisingly, many hospitals are yet to automate their medication automation process.
more than 190,000 medication errors were reported in England.”
One hospital transforming the way medicines are managed on the wards is Chesterfield Royal Hospital that was looking for a way to free up pharmacy time to focus on medicines optimisation in line with the Lord Carter report. The Trust installed Omnicell Automated Medication Administration Cabinets in four key areas of the hospital which all held large numbers of medicines. Some of these medicines are high risk where picking errors could potentially occur with serious consequences for patients. In three of these areas the cabinets were integrated with the Trust’s EPMA system, the prime driver being to improve safety, reduce stock holding levels and free up nursing time.
Since installation, staff in the pharmacy now have a clearer picture of what is going on in each ward in terms of medication. In addition, it has reduced
“In 12 months,
the amount of time that pharmacy ATOs spend on the ward doing manual top ups. This free time will now be used on more patient-facing roles, helping to co- ordinate discharge processes to free up bed space and talking to patients about their medication.
As part of the SAFE campaign, Head of Medicines Management at the Trust, Martin Shepherd, spoke at the Clinical Pharmacy Congress on Friday 12 May (in the event’s technology theatre) about the benefits of investing in automation to close the loop between the prescribing and administration of medicines.
Martin commented: “This is a significantly better and safer way of dealing with ward medicines. The risk to patient safety is lower as we have reduced our dependence on manual processes. Integrating the ward-based systems with EPMA only strengthens that level of security.”
Following its launch at CPC, Omnicell’s SAFE campaign will include a number of other activities to raise awareness of automation across the NHS including:
• The development and distribution of educational materials for healthcare professionals
• Advertising & educational features in trade press
• Social media campaign #SAFE
Paul O’Hanlon, Managing Director for Omnicell, commented: “We are concerned at the staggering level of medication errors across the NHS and hope our new SAFE campaign goes some way in throwing the spotlight on the issue and helps to drive real change.”
www.omnicell.co.uk - 7 -
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