The Pharmaceutical Journal
Vol 270 No 7249 p676
17 May 2003

This article
Reprint
Photocopy

News summary

Related websites
NPSA (more)

National adverse incident reports on course for summer roll out

Roll out of the National Patient Safety Agency’s reporting system for adverse incidents is expected this summer.

Sue Osborn, joint chief executive of the NPSA, said last week that a nine-month pilot study of the reporting system had identified shortfalls in the reporting form and had clarified what data will be needed by the NPSA. A new electronic form has been developed and is being evaluated. It includes a section specifically related to medication incidents — the second most common type of incident reported to the NPSA during the pilot study (2,493 reports out of 28,998).

Community pharmacy will be included in the roll out and pharmacists without access to the internet will be able to report incidents by telephone.
Meanwhile, the NPSA’s latest pilot aims to promote the safer use of infusion devices. Six National Health Service trusts will:

• Test a new purchasing process aimed at standardising equipment
• Evaluate users’ experiences to inform purchasing decisions and manufacturers’ design processes
• Investigate the benefits of an equipment library or central storage facility within each trust
• Test a web-based infusion device training tool

The NPSA is to consider whether there is a case for limiting the variety of infusion devices used.