Medicines among worst aspects of hospital experiences for children
“Needles”, “awful-tasting medicine” and “being in pain” are among the worst aspects of being a child in hospital, according to some responses in a report published last week.
The report, “Children’s voices project”, published
by the Commission for Health Improvement, comprises feedback from children
and young people about their experience and expectations of health care.
It was compiled from 59 separate reports from voluntary bodies and statutory
organisations and includes over 750 pieces of feedback. To qualify for
entry, responses had to come directly from children, not from parents
or other carers. A database of all the information included is to be
available as a web-based record, with appropriate additions and analyses
possible.
As well as pharmaceutical matters such as poor-tasting medicine, children
often complained that they did not understand explanations of conditions
and treatments. One child said there was not enough time to have things
explained and another complained that staff only explained things “to
Dad”.
The report highlighted the vulnerability to infection of children in
hospital and the unnecessary time they spent there. It also emphasised
that children should not have to wait for medicines when in pain.
Sharon Conroy, chairman of the Neonatal and Paediatric Pharmacists Group,
said that there were often no alternatives to injections or poor-tasting
medicines for children. She lamented the continued lack of medicines
licensed for paediatric use, saying that her centre — Derbyshire
Children’s Hospital — had to use dispersed or crushed adult
tablets for many children, although they tried to give choices wherever
possible. Children were usually not involved even in taste-testing of
paediatrc formulations, she added. |
The
Pharmaceutical Journal