Time critical medication autumn update

As I write this blog I have been reflecting on how much has been achieved since we last updated you in the spring, and on how that change has happened. The common thread is people coming together, sharing and supporting each other to improve the delivery of Parkinson’s medication on time for their patients.

New Parkinson's Away-From-Home kit

We've launched a new tool to support people with Parkinson's who are going into hospital: the Parkinson's Away-From-Home Kit. 

The kit comes from 3 years of collaboration with people with Parkinson’s and carers to understand the challenges they face when going into hospital and how we can help. People with Parkinson’s can choose from a range of tools to create a kit that works for them. Every item is designed to support them, and those who care for them, to advocate for their Parkinson's medications to be administered on time, every time.

This is a wonderful new resource to share with your patients to support them to be prepared for every day. 

Read about the kit and order the tools.

Pledges becoming action

I am delighted that 116 hospital chief executives from Cornwall to Shetland have pledged to take action on time critical medication. This year we’ve seen a 10% increase in hospitals not only pledging but going on to take action, in many cases by benchmarking against the 10 recommendations for hospitals.

Seeing teams embrace the opportunity to benchmark, capture their work and explore how they can improve has been a highlight of the year for me. That drive and collaboration is something which I recognise from my time in the NHS.

To revisit the 10 recommendations for hospitals and see what organisations are benchmarking, visit our interactive map page.

NHS England Medicine Safety Improvement Project

Collaboration is also key to the NHS England Medicine Safety Improvement Project on time critical medication, delivered by NHS Specialist Pharmacy Service.

Earlier this year 15 hospital trusts in England were selected to be part of the collaborative and 35 trusts joined the community of practice. Each trust is collecting baseline data to identify the problem that will be the focus for their quality improvement project. Collaborative workshops are bringing these professionals together to learn, share and ultimately develop solutions that NHS England can share so that we can all benefit.

Look out for further updates on the NHS Specialist Pharmacy Service website.

Electronic prescribing system rolled out across Northern Ireland

I was delighted to hear about the implementation of the same electronic prescribing (e-prescribing) system across all trusts in Northern Ireland this year. What a wonderful opportunity to collaborate and leverage IT systems to improve the delivery of time critical medication across health and care. I look forward to learning from colleagues in Northern Ireland about how this can improve care.

For tips on how hospitals can use electronic prescribing to improve time critical medication delivery, read our e-prescribing guide.

Self-administration policy template in development

Finally, we've also been listening to you, and acting on your feedback. A number of you have told us that one of the barriers to effective self administration in your organisation is not having a policy that is up to date and fit for purpose. 

We've been working with experts from the Royal Pharmaceutical Society (RPS) and Royal College of Nursing (RCN) to produce a template self administration policy. We now have a robust draft policy which is undergoing further testing. I'm grateful to the nurses and pharmacists who are working hard to make this happen. 

For now, read our self-administration guide. 

I look forward to being able to share the template policy and other updates from our work on time critical medication with you next year. In the meantime, a big thank you to all of you who are working together, sharing and supporting each other to improve the delivery of Parkinson’s medication on time for patients.