The implications of this are very serious as many people rely on particular drugs to stave on infections and ensure their general health and without these drugs their life is in danger.

 

Additionally, the drug which has been incorrectly received could cause a violent reaction in the patient, again seriously jeopardising their wellbeing.

 

Another serious factor of wrong prescription is when the wrong dosage of a drug is administered, leading to potentially fatal reactions.

 

The mistake can be traced either to the doctor prescribing the medication, the pharmacist handing over the medication or the pharmacist checking and sorting the prescriptions.

 

Either way, in the case of an incorrect medicine being handed over to the patient, somebody at some point has been negligent and consequently put the patient’s life at risk.

 

It is difficult to calculate the exact number of prescription or medication mistakes made each year as it is believed that many case go unreported with the patient either suffering no adverse side effects or noticing the error and returning to the pharmacy for the correct medication.

 

However, in some cases, the result can be devastating and even fatal.

 

Medicine safety

According to the National Patient Safety Agency, 6.5 per cent of all hospital patents in the year 2005 – 2006 came to harm as a result of medication errors.

 

57 per cent of these were due to the patient being administered the incorrect dosage of their medication, with 92 cases resulting in serious injury or death.

 

The figures for mistakes made when a patient collects their prescription from a pharmacist are much harder to work out due to the reduced contact between the pharmacist and the patient and the fact that most people collecting their prescription from a pharmacy are only suffering from mild complaints, resulting in the error often going unnoticed or unreported.

 

An intensive study carried out in 2005 revealed that 2.1 per cent of prescriptions were made containing mistakes, although most of these were picked up during the checking process, with only 1 out of every 100 mistakes made resulting in the patient receiving the incorrect prescription.

 

Pharmacies in general have a rigorous checking process where mistakes are avoided, however, mistakes do slip through and when they do the results can be devastating.

 

Often it is the most vulnerable members of society who are affected, as the elderly on average collect double the number of prescriptions per year than younger people.

 

Often it is the most vulnerable members of society who are affected, as the elderly on average collect double the number of prescriptions per year than younger people.

 

Where the wrong medicine has been prescribed it is important to see a doctor as soon as possible and explain what has happened in order to have the best chance of making a full recovery.

 

Subsequently, it should be relatively easy to identify who was negligent in administering the incorrect medication due to extensive records kept at every stage of prescribing and administering the medication.

 

Once a negligent party has been established, it should be possible to being a medical negligence claim against the healthcare professional or healthcare body responsible for the mistake.

 

In many case substantial compensation can be won from a medical negligence claim.