Walsall hospital must improve safe medicine management

A hospital has been told it needs to further improve its management of medicines to avoid harm to patients.

The Care Quality Commission (CQC) visited Walsall Manor Hospital unannounced in June to follow up on a warning notice issued last October.

Inspectors previously raised concerns about the safe management of medicines after finding some items unavailable and others out of date.

While improvements were found, not all requirements had been met, it found.

Walsall Healthcare NHS Trust has been contacted by the BBC for comment.

A section 29a warning notice issued in October 2022 required significant improvements.

When the CQC returned on 20 June the inspection team, overseen by interim deputy director Charlotte Rudge, found the prescribing, administration and recording of medicines still lacking.

According to the inspection report, medicines storage had improved overall following increased monitoring from pharmacy.

However, inspectors accessed an unlocked treatment room and found a fridge containing insulin and intravenous fluids on open shelving.

Inspectors also observed practitioners did not always complete or update medicines records accurately, and were sometimes unable to determine whether patients had taken it or not.

Furthermore, the report stated workers did not routinely check patients had the correct medicines when they were admitted or moved, citing a patient with diabetes whose blood sugar levels increased when prescribed insulin was stopped.

It also noted a patient left without an inhaler for four days and several hours of delays in the administration of medicines as nurses queued for an electronic storage system.

When presented with the findings the trust told the CQC it was undertaking additional audits and all patients identified had been reviewed.

It must now send CQC a report stating the action it will take to prevent patients from harm arising from unsafe care and treatment.

The hospital's rating remained as requires improvement, the second lowest CQC rating.

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