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NHS drug errors may be causing up to 22,000 deaths a year in Bri

(2018-02-26 00:53:25) 下一個

NHS drug errors may be causing up to 22,000 deaths every year

By Laura Donnelly, health editor 23 FEBRUARY 2018 • 12:01AM

HTTp://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2018/02/23/nhs-drug-errors-may-causing-22000-deaths-every-year/

NHS drug blunders may be causing up to 22,000 deaths a year, with “appalling” levels of avoidable harm, the Health Secretary warns today.
Jeremy Hunt pledged a revolution in patient safety - and a shift away from a “cover-up culture” as research found mistakes by doctors, nurses and pharmacists amount to 237 million drug errors every year.
He said the scale of the problem was “shocking” - and constituted “a far bigger problem” than had been realised, as he announced sweeping changes to improve the NHS’ safety record.
The research led by the University of York, which analysed 36 major studies, suggests that more than seven in ten potentially harmful errors are being made by GPs and pharmacists, with patients ending up in hospital because they were prescribed the wrong drug.
The study estimates that avoidable drug errors are causing more than 700 deaths a year, and could be contributing to between 1,700 and 22,000 deaths.
In total, almost one in six hospital patients fell victim to a drug blunder, the research suggests.
One of the most common causes of deaths occurred when patients were prescribed drugs by GPs which resulted in fatal gastro-intestinal bleeding. NHS errors were most likely when patients were elderly, and among those taking several types of medication.
The findings come from a review ordered by the Health and Social Care Secretary, which is published today. It suggests that the scale of the blunders is now costing the NHS £1.6bn a year.
Writing for the Telegraph, Mr Hunt said the findings were “alarming”.
“Frankly, the results came as a shock - and showed the issue is more widespread and deep-seated than any of us realised,” he writes.
“Millions of us take different types of medicines to manage illness or ongoing conditions every day - which is perhaps why today's figures are so startling,” highlighting findings showing 237 million drug errors in England each year.
“It is likely that many of these errors are picked up before they reach the patient, and the majority are minor with little potential to cause harm. But the research still suggests that there are an estimated 66 million incidents a year where an error may affect a patient's health - this includes a shocking 1,700 deaths that could be caused by avoidable drug reactions, and they may even be responsible for up to 22,000 deaths,” he said.
“These are not just statistics - they are someone's mum, child or partner suffering harm or tragedy when it didn't need to happen,” he writes.
Today the Government will announce reforms to NHS systems in order to better prevent and identify drug errors.
The changes will link up GP and hospital technology, and speed up electronic prescribing, which has been shown to halve error rates, by warning staff of possible safety risks.
The research found no evidence that Britain’s error rates are worse than those elsewhere, with the UK better than many other countries at collecting such data.
Mr Hunt said the NHS had already embarked on a “quiet revolution” to make safety improvements, as he pledged to make Britain a “global leader” in stamping out medication errors, and “blaze a trail” to improve patient safety.

Just one in three NHS trusts currently have robust electronic prescribing systems, which warn doctors and pharmacists about any risks attached to their drug requests - such as drugs being contraindicated, or if dosages appear too high.
The new plans will speed up the introduction of such systems more widely.
Mr Hunt also pledged to work with clinicians to improve the design of the systems they work in, improving medication packaging to reduce the risk of error.
And he promised changes to build a culture of openness and transparency, including measures to ensure pharmacists felt able to speak up about genuine errors, without fear of prosecution.
Speaking at the Global Patient Safety summit, a gathering of experts on patient safety in London today, Mr Hunt will say: "My mission has always been to make the NHS one of the safest healthcare systems and although we do well in international comparisons this new study shows medication error in the NHS and globally is a far bigger problem than generally recognised, causing appalling levels of harm and death that are totally preventable.
"We are taking a number of steps today, but part of the change needs also to be cultural: moving from a blame culture to a learning culture so doctors and nurses are supported to be open about mistakes rather than cover them up for fear of losing their job.”
Professor Helen Stokes-Lampard, Chairman of the Royal College of GPs, said: "GPs work hard to avoid making mistakes in the prescribing process, and our patients should be reassured that in the vast majority of cases, prescriptions are made appropriately and correctly.
But as well as being highly-qualified medical professionals, doctors are also human, so medication mistakes can and occasionally do happen.
She welcomed the measures announced today to reduce medication error risks. However, she said addressing safety also meant funding the NHS properly, with enough staff to deliver safe patient care.
“Ultimately, we need to see NHS England’s GP Forward View, which promises an extra £2.4bn for general practice, 5,000 more GPs and 5,000 more members of the practice team, delivered, in full, as a matter of urgency," she said.

Why is the NHS under so much pressure?

An ageing population. There are one million more people over the age of 65 than five years ago. This has caused a surge in demand for medical care
Cuts to budgets for social care. While the NHS budget has been protected, social services for home helps and other care have fallen by 11 per cent in five years. This has caused record levels of “bedblocking”; people with no medical need to be in hospital are stuck there because they can’t be supported at home
Staff shortages. While hospital doctor and nurse numbers have risen over the last decade, they have not kept pace with the rise in demand. Meanwhile 2016 saw record numbers of GP practices close, displacing patients on to A&E departments as they seek medical advice
Lifestyle factors. Drinking too much alcohol, smoking, a poor diet with not enough fruit and vegetables and not doing enough exercise are all major reasons for becoming unwell and needing to rely on our health services. Growing numbers of overweight children show this problem is currently set to continue

Comments 403 from http://www.dailymail.co.uk/health/article-5424789/Up-22-000-deaths-year-caused-medication-mistakes.html?

Direkt, Glasgow, United Kingdom, 3 days ago

If you want to stay healthy avoid hospitals.

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Walter Bean, Hull, United Kingdom, 2 days ago

RigRat2 Hospitals have always been dangerous places and killed people. Even under Labour believe it or not. Google 'doctors strike and patients stop dying'

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James_Rustle, Neverton, United Kingdom, 2 days ago

Yep, if you have a brain haemorrhage, just sit at home and wait it out. Those hospitals are nothing but bad news, hey.

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Thomas57, London, United Kingdom, 3 days ago

That's truly disgusting. Add this number to the 20,000 that are killed because of general mistakes, that's mass murder. We need to demand this stops right now.

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OnesOpinion, Yorkshire, United Kingdom, 2 days ago

Jill and Ceecee , Yes i totally agree we would benefit as a customer's attitude and behaviour has a huge impact too. There is a lot who think it's 'just picking a box off the shelf and chucking it into a bag' or 'it's only one thing' without realising there are 8 more scripts in front possibly with 4/5 items on each... or realising the care and time needed when dispensing and assembling a script. I suppose you don't truly know unless work there or care to know. There are people who do care to understand though and it is so so appreciated. So big thanks to those people out there who do understand and care. Ceecee, I've been there too and it's awful. I really hope you start to feel better soon. It's awful to suffer from and to see colleagues suffer especially when you know how it can all be resolved, well, made a lot better. Btw in both of your opinions do you think that the cutting/reducing of staff may have something to do with the Hubs and robots progressing?

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James_Rustle, Neverton, United Kingdom, 2 days ago

"Oh, you're demanding us to stop making mistakes? Why didn't you say earlier? We'll stop making mistakes straight away! Problem fixed!"

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Bill In The Desert, La Quinta, United States, 3 days ago

It is not just in the U.K. that this happens. On leaving the hospital in California, I was given five prescriptions for continued use at home. They were filled at one of the principal pharmacies in the U.S. Three of the five were filled with completely different drugs. Only the diligence of a relative saved me from taking them. The pharmacist, on being told of the mistake, replied: "We're have a bad day today.".

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sceptical, Ware, United Kingdom, 3 days ago

It amazes me that the same drug & strength tablets from different manufacturers can be totally different sizes, shapes & colours. I'm currently on 3 different tablets & sometimes all 3 look the same.

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2 of 4 repliesSee all replies

sceptical, Ware, United Kingdom, 3 days ago

'That's the manufacture of the drug nothing to do with the wrong drug.'-----------well obviously but it's easy to see how they could get mixed up.

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Samjoy1, northampton, United Kingdom, 2 days ago

They send prescribing advisers in to change the doctor's prescribed drug to save money causing me reactions.

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Cedric Egg, Windsor, United Kingdom, 3 days ago

I often cannot understand the doctor's writing on the drug chart when I do the drugs round.

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Jack Smith101, london, United Kingdom, 2 days ago

Cedric, I wish they would ban hand written prescriptions, Patients screaming in your face because you are taking to long to dispense their prescription when you are trying to clarify with the GP what they have written which looks like it was done by a 5 year old. I'm sorry for trying to prevent harm to you by giving you the wrong drug. I can't wait to get out of this profession, six years and I have had enough.

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James_Rustle, Neverton, United Kingdom, 2 days ago

Well. thats ok because there's an electronic system which things are ordered from and not written down.

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atjen66, brighton, United Kingdom, 3 days ago

This happened to me I was taking blood pressure tablets and diuretic tablets and my new gp changed my tablets and the new prescription the diuretic tablets dosage was wrong leading to a build up of fluid in my chest which required me to be hospitalised and then in hospital I caught pneumonia. And two years later I am still having breathing problems. The gp has retired.

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RichardA, Yokohama Japan, 3 days ago

Except in a few rare cases of deliberate malevolence, the majority of these deaths are the result of total system failures, leading to an individual somewhere inevitably contributing to the death, and then being blamed. To Err Is Human: Building a Safer Health System by the National Academies Press isn an excellent overview of medical errors, albeit from a US point of view.

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Thor, Belfast, 3 days ago

22 thousand killed costing the NHS £1.6 billion a year unreal. You would think they would have figured out. A way to do this with hardly a mistake by now.

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Plassey, Milton keynes, United Kingdom, 3 days ago

Kills more then illegal drugs a year.

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Missacidburn, Newport, 3 days ago

actually alcohol does.

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Bull terrier, Chelmsford, United Kingdom, 3 days ago

Total and utter shambles just like the rest of the country !! Liberalism has Fu¿ked this country right up .

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RigRat2, The North, United Kingdom, 3 days ago

The Tories have been in charge for 6 years , hardly the liberals fault

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Pert_Derriere, Bedfordshire, United Kingdom, 3 days ago

I¿ve seen three examples of this in the last two weeks from people I know. Two are cancer patients. It took them being hospitalised as a result for the error to be realised. I¿m a transplant patient and I too have experienced errors. When you are sick you put your faith in things being correct, you don¿t always have the strength to be overly diligent. It¿s a sad state of affairs.

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mottle, perth, 3 days ago

Unsurprising. The NHS is a nationalised industry. Mistakes and poor service are par for the course in them, and so is lack of accountability. Remember when the state made cars? We got the Austin Allegro.

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Robert, Wigan, 3 days ago

So what¿s the alternative? A privately funded scheme where only the wealthy are seen by ¿preset¿ patient slots? The NHS like many other public sector bodies has been pushed to breaking point, while always trying to do that little bit extra. Harping back to the Allegro that¿s over quarter of a century ago. Get a grip please and move on...

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PC5g08, England, United Kingdom, 3 days ago

1700 in hospital and then 20600 in the community !!!!!!!!¿¿¿¿¿

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Petrabreeze, Maidstone, United Kingdom, 3 days ago

Before visiting a doctor, if you manage to make an appointment, research the drugs that might help your condition and then talk to the pharmacist who will have an intimate knowledge of the side effects and benefits. Doctors just don¿t have the time and will often prescribe drugs like tramadol without informing you of the real dangers and problems of addiction. Pharmacists are under utilised and will help you make the right decisions.

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jddm, london, United Kingdom, 3 days ago

Has Sophie Borland ever written a positive article?

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Alexander_p, Preston, United Kingdom, 3 days ago

It¿s terrible I know but it¿s near impossible for a dr to guess the right medication for you let a lone the dosage you might need. Some smaller people can handle a lot of alcohol but a really big person can be very ill of the same amount. Everybody is different and must be very difficult for drs no matter how good/educated/experienced they are. Still the family would probably not think that of their loved one who died which i get

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Alexander_p, Preston, United Kingdom, 3 days ago

Sorry they should know what¿s wrong with you but what dosage would be difficult

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lizzie14, bristol, United Kingdom, 3 days ago

Try working in a busy pharmacy. Where government have cut the money given so staffing is cut.

542Click to rate

Watson and Holmes, Baker Street, United Kingdom, 3 days ago

Recently my pharmacy gave me someone else¿s medicine by mistake. The computer printed sticky label had my name on it. It could have been dangerous, but fortunately I noticed it. I wonder whether this is common?

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Destructivedave, Cambridge, United Kingdom, 3 days ago

And the people dying from cannabis supplements?

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jenny10marie, north west, United Kingdom, 3 days ago

I have severe OCD and this is the main reason in my job, it frightens me to death. So it takes me forever to do a drug round as I have to check it a million times and question it before I give it. Other nurses get annoyed. Thinking of quitting and doing something else, interestingly never had mental health probs before I became a nurse

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JGM, Sense-common , United Kingdom, 3 days ago

Well that¿s a bit rich by Hunt! Bet the errors aren¿t killing as many as HIS cut backs !!

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Mzungu, Sodden-on-the-Water, United Kingdom, 3 days ago

For Brits the NHS seems to be a national treasure mentioned in the same hallowed breath as the Queen, Freddie Mercury (the other queen) and fish and chips. But they make 400,000 medical mistakes/blunders per year. That isn't a small amount and doesn't exactly inspire confidence.

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geebers, Rottherham, 3 days ago

When people die in hospital through mistakes it¿s always through complications. Until there is an admission by them that they made a mistake they are in denial. We are all human after all and we all make mistakes. Maybe compensation culture is to blame.

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Zorro, UK, United Kingdom, 3 days ago

The anti gun lobby should change focus and activate against incompetent medicos whose systemic failures kill so many in one year than crazed gunmen since guns were invented. Christ, they have killed more people in one year than the IRA in a 100 years.

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particles, amsterdam, 3 days ago

EVERY SINGLE DAY, president Trump is vindicated after the comment he made that provoked all that fake 'outrage' The Daily Mail knows it, the PEOPLE know it, that the NHS , that once 'jewel in the crown of England' is nothing but a mis-managed shambles and bureaucratic monolith to failure. A SHAME on Britain

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comment sense, Northampton, United Kingdom, 3 days ago

A Doctor who makes a diagnosis and creates a resultant prescription is unlikely to be involved with either the dispensing or administering of such, so it really doesn't matter how good they are, if the next stage of the process is flawed. Human error will always be a factor and is unavoidable, but it can be controlled and reduced if proper training and procedures are in place. Most importantly though there needs to be enough resource in place to make it happen. The most hard working and diligent humans will make more mistakes if they are expected to perform beyond their capacity.

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lalalala55, warrington, United Kingdom, 3 days ago

In my experience you have to monitor everything .Mistakes are often made due to pressure of work rather than incompetence.

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AC, Edinburgh, United Kingdom, 3 days ago

Pressure of work certainly is no excuse!. It all boils down to carelessness and inadequate safety checks.

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Samjoy1, northampton, United Kingdom, 3 days ago

Well said. Abroad I get 30min to see the GP. Here I get only 10min and I saw the huge pile of prescriptions he has to sign and moaning about it. Guess you get what you pay for.

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Pickle, Liverpool, 3 days ago

Doesn¿t surprise me at all. My husband was in hospital for cancer and septicaemia last year in both private and nhs hospitals. He was given the wrong info about a skin graft, inadequate dressings, wrong strength of drugs at least twice and wrongly timed doses. Good job we were on the ball and spotted the mistakes before they became dangerous. Staff seemed unbothered and quite blasé about any mistakes. It was quite scary.

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OnesOpinion, Yorkshire, United Kingdom, 3 days ago

I work in pharmacy and I tell you now, a closer look needs to be taken within the companies. Staff being under so much pressure&stress due to understaffing and targets. It may not always look it on the outside but pharmacy is a very, very hectic, high intensity job that requires maximum concentration. 100's of scripts per day. Not just walk in scripts but collections, deliveries,call backs,nomad trays, warehouse delivery of hundreds of medication to put away twice a day,prescription ordering,stock counts, date checking&more.All this understaffed with impossible targets. Yes human error will always be made but majority of errors do occur due to pressure from staff shortages. Luckily most are identified before it gets to a patient.Sick leave is always quite high due to anxiety & stress also. What does that say?Wasn't like this 10 years ago. More is expected now with less.Pharmacy environments should be looked into&they would soon see why it's happening.The companies know full well why.

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jillthepill, Bristol, 2 days ago

Walter Bean in a world where funding to Pharmacy has been consistently cut over the years you expect us to believe that Pharmacists pay wages to staff who have nothing to do?

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OnesOpinion, Yorkshire, United Kingdom, 2 days ago

Walter, They probably do have plenty to do but also they may be one of the very few pharmacies which are correctly staffed, well managed and looked after. Or it may be one of the quieter pharmacies with less patients and items to do. Customer to staff ratio makes a huge difference too and they may be a pharmacy which has it right. Also just out of curiosity is it a private pharmacy? Or a large chain pharmacy?

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TruthSayer1, Portsmouth, United Kingdom, 3 days ago

Plenty of hospital survival guidebooks on the market. Not just medication errors, but plenty of surgical errors, radiation dose errors, etc. Always mark on your body with a permanent marker, the place where the surgeon needs to cut - so many instances of surgeons viewing x-ray films the wrong way round and patients having the wrong kidney removed, wrong hip/knee replaced, etc...

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Sarjana Lastname, SanDominion, Portugal, 3 days ago

Other words study your disease and teach hospital staff what to do. Then ask 2 witnesses be whit you to testify that they do what you have teach to them. Have to sa that death cant defend them selves, and relatives are kept so busy that their dont have time to catch murderess.

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Ria, Paris, France, 3 days ago

I remember a sad case where they took out, because the X ray was held up the wrong way, a man's good kidney instead of the cancerous one. It was too late when they discovered their mistake, he died shortly after.

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AutoGrow, Scotland, United Kingdom, 3 days ago

we need British people in our doctors and pharmacies,,, they are giving us the wrong medications something should be done NOW.

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dgrls nnflg, London, 3 days ago

I'd be somewhat uneasy going into hospital nowadays, to say the least, having just read this article.

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Capricorn01, London, United Kingdom, 3 days ago

If that statistic is correct, then everyone who prescribes and handles drugs should be retrained, that's more deaths than virtually any other cause we know.

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Yankee Nationalist, New England, United States, 3 days ago

22,000 people... That's quite a lot of mistakes!

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T-G, Bristol, United Kingdom, 3 days ago

How has sky news said it¿s 1,700 per year and you have said it¿s 22,000? That is a massive difference! Don¿t know which to believe myself. There are a lot of medicine errors but most are minor, it¿s more likely 22,000 errors altogether and 1,700 deaths per year

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British Observer, Amsterdam, Netherlands, 3 days ago

Come on DM. Sort this out.

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Bull terrier, Chelmsford, United Kingdom, 3 days ago

Just before Christmas DM run a article that 48% of cancer diagnosis were incorrect.and now this feels me with such confidence!!!.

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Cheribaby, Somewhereoutthere, United Kingdom, 3 days ago

By coincidence, I collected my regular tablets for high blood pressure yesterday, to discover that one of them had been swapped for a drug that is prescribed for gout! A trip back to Boots in the morning to sort it out.

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Cheribaby, Somewhereoutthere, United Kingdom, 3 days ago

Funnily enough, one of them was! Think I may change chemists.

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Cheribaby, Somewhereoutthere, United Kingdom, 3 days ago

Out of stock, that is!

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Obsessedwithme, OFFTHEGRID, United States, 3 days ago

It is over 200k in the states...just to give you some perspective. All of our commercials are drug ads where you guys are not allowed to show over there.

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Max, Leicester, United Kingdom, 3 days ago

So i have a good diet, don't smoke or drink but visiting a Doctor or hospital could kill me,brilliant,bring on brexit.

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Kentish Maid, Canterbury, United Kingdom, 3 days ago

But you seem to have a mental problem. How can Brexit possibly be connected to errors in prescribing and administering medication? I¿d really like you to explain why the EU is to blame!

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British Observer, Amsterdam, Netherlands, 3 days ago

These are just meds accidents. The numbers of elderly falling to deliberate methods such as Injector driver syringes will be many times more. Only in this manner can combining Health and Social Care save money.

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Concerned 3, Verulam, United Kingdom, 3 days ago

I've always had a deep distrust of GPs ( although my brother is one,) and hospitals VERY dangerous places.

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Kentish Maid, Canterbury, United Kingdom, 3 days ago

I¿m with you all the way. My brother in law was a GP. He used to say if you want to lead a long and happy life stay away from the doctor!

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Emma, Guildford, United Kingdom, 3 days ago

If relatives didn't interrupt drugs rounds this figure would be halved straight away!!!

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OrdinaryAverageBloke, London, United Kingdom, 3 days ago

When I read ¿no system involving humans will ever be perfect¿ I¿m left wondering what a state it would be in if the aviation industry had that attitude? Please set the bar a little higher NHS.

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Sh, Shrewsbury, 3 days ago

Are you kidding? How many humans do you know who have never made a mistake? It's inevitable at some point! The bar is high in the NHS, people don't go to work and think oh I think I'll make a mistake today. No one in the health profession wants to make a mistake, particularly if it hurts someone.

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chitty1941, Channel Islands, Jersey, 3 days ago

Not to worry Jeremy is going to sort it out lol

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Kentish Maid, Canterbury, United Kingdom, 3 days ago

Well he surely can¿t be any worse than this mob and I¿m saying this as a life long Conservative. Won¿t be voting for them again in the foreseeable future!

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Steve, Nottingham, 3 days ago

My father was nearly killed by his GP prescribing a drug for too long, the paramedic questioned my father after his 3rd collapse, he pointed out that one of the drugs my father had been taking for 2 years should only have been prescribed for a few months. GPs and doctors are the same they can't be bothered to check, had a similar problem when I took my father to AE, arrogant consultant did not listen to a word my father said unlike the nurse who took notes asked pertinent questions. When I asked the consultant to actually listen to my father, the look on the arrogant gits face was one of incredulousness that I dared to challenge him, I had to ask him a second time.

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JuliaBenson, Newcastle, United Kingdom, 3 days ago

That is probably why we are encouraged to let the pharmacist review our prescriptions.

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ttGuy, Oxford, United Kingdom, 3 days ago

With our mum it was a blood pressure drug. Csused her to get dizzy and weak a lot. Unable to get in or out of bath etc. V dangetmrous. I got her off them and she is now full of energy. and much happier.

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