Purchasing Medicines for Safety Policy

Introduction

The use of all medicines may not only incur a risk of an adverse drug reaction (ADR) but also of a clinical incident such as an inappropriate reconstitution or administration error. These types of medication error risks can and should be minimised by “Purchasing for Safety” in the first instance.

All NHS pharmacy staff assume a duty of care when supplying a medicine. In order to reduce the number/frequency of incidents caused by medication errors it is essential that all risks are identified and assessed. Following risk identification and assessment action must be taken to minimise the possibility of a patient safety incident

Effective procurement of the right medicine is an important tool in the risk reduction process. This includes Clinical Pharmacists not only assessing a product's clinical effectiveness and ADR potential but also its safety in use when responding to a request for a new medicine. Medicines should only be purchased if they are of a suitable quality, safe to use and fit for purpose. Moreover it is essential that the procurement process assesses the capabilities of the supply chain to the hospital to ensure that products are genuine, have been correctly stored and are available when required.

The pharmacy at Ashford and St Peter’s Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust has a Wholesaler Dealers Authorisation and is inspected by the MHRA (Medicines and Healthcare Products Regulatory Agency). Compliance with the licence ensures that medicines are only purchased from bone fide suppliers with requisite licences in place. The pharmacy does not differentiate between medicines purchased for dispensing and wholesaling so all medicines are purchased and stored according to the licence standards and in adherence to the Falsified Medication Directive (FMD).

Policy Details

See also:

• Medicines Management Policy