Hospital Pharmacy..delays discharge

[RJRB 682]

I am awaiting a call to collect my elderly mother in law from The Hallamshire.

We were told before 2 pm that she could leave once she had the medicines prescribed.

Due to a possible delay it was agreed that she would leave at 6 p.m.

It is now turned 7 pm and the medicines have still not arrived. She is approaching 90 and her husband who is turned 90,is anxiously awaiting her return home.

The NHS has been great from the ambulance men and her treatment on the ward.

However I just cannot understand why there has now been a 7 hour wait for the medicines.

Unfortunately we had a similar experience previously but this was a mere 4 hours

[peak4 254]

Not just the Hallamshire.

My Dad's had to wait for up to 1o hours or more at Stepping Hill.

It seems to be a major issue in many hospitals sadly.

[scargill 10]

I am awaiting a call to collect my elderly mother in law from The Hallamshire.

We were told before 2 pm that she could leave once she had the medicines prescribed.

Due to a possible delay it was agreed that she would leave at 6 p.m.

It is now turned 7 pm and the medicines have still not arrived. She is approaching 90 and her husband who is turned 90,is anxiously awaiting her return home.

The NHS has been great from the ambulance men and her treatment on the ward.

However I just cannot understand why there has now been a 7 hour wait for the medicines.

Unfortunately we had a similar experience previously but this was a mere 4 "hours

 

Nowt new I'm afraid, same experience 15 years ago.

[Granma 10]

Can you ask to take her home & say you will come back for the medicines?

 

Grama.

[RJRB 682]

Can you ask to take her home & say you will come back for the medicines?

 

Grama.

 

Apparently not.

Still awaiting the call.Rung the ward....very helpful but say some of the prescription arrived but not labelled correctly:)

[sheffandy 24]

I know its not nice waiting, but if you imagine for one minute the about of patients(in and out) that need the services of the pharmacy dept at RHH (and the othe trust hospitals) then its huge demand thats placed on this service. Every single prescription must be triple checked, and that's why the wait is so long.

[RJRB 682]

Well the triple checking didn't work very well,unless that includes the nurse on the ward who found out that it was wrong apparently.

The whole delay we are told is that the patients notes were missing....and still are we are told.

No it's not nice waiting particularly when you are elderly and tired.

My only point is that perhaps everything should be signed off and available within a reasonable and accurate time.

Then the patient and relatives can plan accordingly.

If the pharmacy is understaffed I sympathise and hope it is an issue that can be addressed

[monkey104 10]

About 18 months ago my wife had a spell in the NGH. We had been waiting 3 hours for her prescriptions and we're getting a little fed up.

When the prescription wasn't forthcoming I arranged to take her home and pick up the prescription later that day.

[RJRB 682]

I apologise.She could have gone home at 3.30 without the prescription but no one was available at that time to collect her.

So it was arranged that I could collect her at 6 p.m at which time the prescription would certainly be ready.

It wasn't and then it was a case of hanging on for half an hour at a time as they were sorting out whatever the problem was.

[Elphi 24 10]

That's not bad, I was once in RHH and told I could go in the morning, it took till 11pm to get home. I was desperate as it was hubby's birthday so wanted to celebrate a tiny bit!

[sheffandy 24]

Well the triple checking didn't work very well,unless that includes the nurse on the ward who found out that it was wrong apparently.

The whole delay we are told is that the patients notes were missing....and still are we are told.

No it's not nice waiting particularly when you are elderly and tired.

My only point is that perhaps everything should be signed off and available within a reasonable and accurate time.

Then the patient and relatives can plan accordingly.

If the pharmacy is understaffed I sympathise and hope it is an issue that can be addressed

 

Well, obviously it did work because it was spotted.

[clarez85 10]

The whole process takes quite a while but the time the discharge prescription is in pharmacy is actually relatively short. A system is used to record the time the prescription is received to the time it is ready to be collected.

Often the process of the doctor creating the letter takes up the most time, then it has to be sent to pharmacy to be clinically checked, labelled, dispensed and checked again. Often the most problems occur at the clinical stage where a doctor will have to clarify or amend something. All these checks are necessary to ensure patient safety.

It can be frustrating I'm sure the volume of work sent to pharmacy is massive and sometimes it is assumed that simply putting a box of tablets in a bag should take 5 mins but it doesn't work that that!