Peter Dowd MP Visits Aintree University Hospital Pharmacy Service

Following my recent Parliamentary Question on improving medicine administration across the UK, I was invited to visit Aintree Hospital by BD, a global medical technology company, focusing on improving medication safety in the NHS, to meet with the Pharmacy team to learn more about patient and healthcare worker safety.

Their research found that between 2013 and 2019, NHS Resolution paid £82,260,573 in damages and out of court settlements. However, despite the large financial burden to the NHS the human cost is far greater, with 132 patient deaths resulting from medication errors during the same period. It also highlighted that little or no progress had been made in implementing the recommendations of the Short Life Working Group on reducing medication-related harm which were published in 2018. More recent enquiries from Labour show that the figure for 2020/2021 financial year stands at a staggering £16,886,773, more needs to be done to tackle this matter.

It was great to meet with the team at Aintree Hospital for an insightful discussion on patient safety and preventing medication errors.