Patients urged to bring medication to hospital

Hospitals in East Yorkshire and northern Lincolnshire are wasting thousands of pounds a week on medication people already have at home, a health trust has said.

NHS Humber Health Partnership urged patients to bring their medication and prescriptions with them ahead of a stay in hospital.

The partnership runs the Diana, Princess of Wales Hospital in Grimsby, Scunthorpe General Hospital, Goole and District Hospital, Hull Royal Infirmary and Castle Hill Hospital.

It said about a quarter of medicines dispensed by hospital pharmacies were for medication patients are already taking before they arrive for treatment.

A recent audit of patients at Northern Lincolnshire and Goole NHS Foundation Trust, which runs hospitals in Scunthorpe, Grimsby and Goole, highlighted potential savings of £6,000 a week simply by patients bringing their existing medication in with them.

At Hull University Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust a recent audit carried our during Diabetes and Insulin Safety Awareness Week found that, if patients brought their insulin pens into the hospital and hospital teams managed this medication more efficiently, savings of up to £2,000 a week could be made on insulin supplies alone.

Group chief pharmacist Jo Goode, said: "By not bringing their current medication with them, patients not only risk interrupting their regular medication doses, which could have serious consequences on their long-term condition or treatment, but they're also unnecessarily costing the NHS money."

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