Medicine worth £25k thrown out as fridge left open

A failure to close a fridge door at a Shropshire hospital resulted in £25,000 worth of medication being thrown away.

The fridge in The Shrewsbury and Telford Hospital NHS Trust (SaTH) pharmacy department did not have an alarm to alert staff when it was left ajar, NHS trust bosses heard at a board meeting on Thursday.

The incident had been reported to the SaTH audit and risk assurance committee which was told that it was left open "inadvertently".

Professor Trevor Purt, vice chair of SaTH, said it led to the drugs being "effectively written off".

Board papers noted that the costs of pharmacy items, wastage and write-offs "remained a concern".

The committee report read: "The committee was advised of a pharmacy fridge door which was recently inadvertently left ajar and led to £25,000 of medication being rendered unusable.

"However, regarding pharmacy wastage, it was noted that several mitigations had been identified which could save a significant amount of money for the trust; a business case was in the process of being developed, which if successful, would increase the capacity for medicines recycling, leading to less wastage."

A SaTH spokesperson said the trust "is committed to reducing waste to ensure value for money" and is always looking for new opportunities.

They added: "The overall cost of pharmacy waste remains around the trust's target and while it has increased slightly, this is due to an increase in costs of purchasing medicines."

This news was gathered by the Local Democracy Reporting Service which covers councils and other public service organisations.

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