The Pharmaceutical Journal
Vol 269 No 7227 p800
7 December 2002

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National Patient Safety Agency (www.npsa.org.uk)

Error reporting to be piloted in community pharmacy setting

Anonymous error reporting using a standard electronic form is to be piloted in community pharmacies in the new year by the National Patient Safety Agency.

Wendy Harris, senior pharmacist at the NPSA, told a patient safety seminar at the Pharmaceutical Services Negotiating Committee community pharmacy conference in Birmingham last week that the form would be "ready to roll next year". She said: "Our form is almost in its final state. It will be tested predominantly in primary care, and in community pharmacy, from January to March."

There will be at least 28 pilot sites, some of which will be primary care trusts. However, it is not yet clear how many pharmacies will be involved. The national roll out of the form is expected to be next summer. Ms Harris said that such a nationwide reporting scheme would help the NPSA identify common errors and trends that it could then highlight to the profession. It would also identify look a like drug packaging and similar sounding drug names that led to dispensing errors. This information, Ms Harris said, could then help manufacturers redesign products to lessen any confusion.