Category:
Drugstores
Region:
United Kingdom
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BRING YOUR OWN PILLS SYSTEM TO SAVE HOSPITAL THOUSANDS
Date: 25-Jul-2008
NEW measures at Ripon Community Hospital are set to save around J10,000 a year in wasted medication.
Patients are already benefiting from a new system which enables them to bring their own medicines into hospital.
Working with the Harrogate and District NHS Foundation Trust's pharmacy department, Ripon Hospital has introduced a system that allows patients to keep their medicines in a lockable locker or bedside cabinet.
Only nursing staff have access to the medicines, in line with hospital guidance, and the new system is saving the NHS more than J200 a week as previously any medication brought into hospital had to be disposed of.
Ripon Hospital's ward manager, Hazel Sinclair, said: "When patients come into hospital we ask their permission to use their medicines. Our pharmacy department then makes sure that the medicines are replaced during their stay in hospital and before they leave for home.
"This really helps patients as they can be supervised to manage their own medication whilst on the ward in preparation for going home. This also helps patients to continue self-medicating safely, cuts down on the amount of stock we have to keep on the ward, reduces waste and is very cost-effective."
Ms Sinclair added: "In the first four weeks since the new system was introduced, the hospital saved J800. The majority of our patients are elderly and need to take lots of medication so this has been a real benefit for them.
"Before, if patients brought their own medicines into hospital, they had to be taken to the pharmacy and destroyed, so this system really reduces our waste."
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