Parkinson's Europe time critical medication article: Our response
'Taking your Parkinson's medication on time is critical. So why is it such a problem in hospitals across Europe?'
At the start of April, Parkinson's Awareness Month, Parkinson's Europe asked this important question in an article on their website, which you can read in full here.
The Parkinson’s Excellence Network's time critical medication programme and the Get It On Time campaign were cited as being "...the biggest step forward… [in] …improvements to the timely administration of Parkinson's medication in hospital."
The teams at Parkinson's UK responsible for this work, which includes collaboration with, and direction from, healthcare professionals (HCPs) from the Excellence Network Clinical Leadership Team and various NHS trusts across the 4 nations of the UK, are pleased to see Parkinson's Europe highlighting the issue.
The charity has even hosted an emergency summit on time critical medication, bringing together patient groups, healthcare professionals and NHS England to take action to ensure people in hospital get their medication on time, every time. Read about what was discussed and the next steps.
Supporting the message of the Parkinson's Europe article, Patsy Cotton, former Parkinson's Nurse Specialist and Chair of the time critical medicine programme advisory group said:
"Healthcare professionals have a duty to deliver safe care in hospitals. It's a basic human right that people with Parkinson's can expect to receive prescribed medication on time, every time. The importance of this is also upheld by the NICE guideline [NG71], Parkinson's disease in adults.
"To do this requires a multidisciplinary approach. It's not the responsibility of just one group of professionals - and nor should it be."
As well as providing safe care and an improved experience to people with Parkinson's and their loved ones, administering medication on time can offer many other advantages, such as:
- Huge potential savings to healthcare organisations
- Earlier discharge
- Reduced admissions
- Reduction in nursing time
- Patients benefiting from a better response to the therapies they receive
Time critical medication resources, and Get It On Time campaign materials, including "Time critical medicine: 10 recommendations for your hospital", and other resources are free to use. Download the time critical medication resources from the Parkinson's UK website or visit the Parkinson's UK shop to order Get It On Time materials.
Any NHS organisations who want to know more about the approaches described in the resources can contact [email protected].
Looking for more time critical medicine information?
Visit the Time critical medication and Get It On Time resource page.