Progress in practice - The UKCPA autumn symposium was held in Blackpool on November 19-21, 1999
The quality of discharge summaries, in a study of 26 prescriptions for diltiazem and 55 for diclofenac, was poor, according to Ms JENNIFER IRVING (Colchester General hospital, winner of the Pharmacia & Upjohn poster prize for the North Thames area).
Among the diltiazem prescriptions, only 17 per cent of those that should have been prescribed by brand name were written in that way. One patient's diltiazem brand was incorrectly changed from Adizem to Dilzem. Twenty per cent of prescriptions were not endorsed with a brand name by the pharmacy department, which staff were now trying to address.
For diclofenac, 42 per cent of prescriptions were written generically.
In addition, communication to GPs was slow and unreliable, said Ms Irving. The average length of time for formal communication to reach the GP was six weeks, by which time the patient would already have needed more medication, she said.