What we’re doing to make sure people with Parkinson’s in Scotland get their time critical medication on time
Last year, we held a summit to discuss how we can make sure people with Parkinson's get their medication on time. Following this, we've released a report of recommendations.
What's the issue?
When people don’t get their Parkinson’s medication within 30 minutes of their prescribed time, they can become very unwell. But less than half of all Parkinson’s medicines are administered on time in Scotland’s hospitals. This can cause stress, severe anxiety, immobility, hallucinations and severe tremors. In extreme cases, people may not recover.
What have we done so far?
Last year we brought together healthcare professionals, charities, people with Parkinson's and senior Scottish Government officials to discuss the issue at a summit. Read about the outcomes of the summit.
We looked at possible ways to make sure people get their medicine on time, every time, in hospital. We also talked about the barriers to solving the problem and how to overcome them.
We’ve now published a report summing up the discussion at the summit. It also outlines our recommended next steps for the Scottish government, NHS boards and other bodies.
Next steps
Read our recommendations in the report.
We think these next steps could make a big difference:
- A Scotland-wide medicine quality improvement (QI) programme. This will require close working between the government, health boards and Healthcare Improvement Scotland.
- NHS boards should use electronic prescribing systems to collect and report data on time critical medication in hospitals. Read about how this is already working in NHS Ayrshire and Arran.
- A national education programme on time critical medication for health professionals, delivered through NHS Education for Scotland (NES).
- NHS boards should have up-to-date self-administration policies in place so that those who are able to do so can self-administer their own medicine. Staff should be trained in how best to use them.
What this means for people with Parkinson’s:
Tanith Muller, Parliamentary & Campaigns Manager, said:
"People with Parkinson’s are much more likely to be admitted to hospital than other people of the same age. So it is really important to make sure that Scotland’s hospitals are safe for people with Parkinson’s. When essential and time critical medicines are given late, or missed altogether, people are risking severe harm.
"We held this summit because change is needed. We know that we can reduce the number of time critical medicine mistakes. We know that this will take leadership and sustained action from a range of organisations and the people who work for them. And we know that we must not delay.
"Parkinson’s UK Scotland will be working with those that attended the summit to make our recommendations happen. We won’t rest until everyone with Parkinson’s gets their time critical medicine on time, every time, in every ward in Scotland."