Cancer pharmacists recognised in patient survey
Papworth Hospital NHS Foundation Trust was rated highly by patients
for provision of medicines information |
The high quality of medicines management advice given by cancer pharmacists to their patients when they leave hospital has been recognised in the annual
patient survey carried out by the Healthcare Commission.
But, overall, the provision of information and advice about medicines
at NHS trusts in England has deteriorated over the past year, according
to the results of the survey, which were published this week.
Trusts providing specialist oncology services scored the highest marks
in three of the four questions relating to patient satisfaction around
medicines information.
Geoff Saunders, chairman of the British Oncology Pharmacy Association,
said the survey results reflect pharmacists’ recognition of the
importance of medicines information for cancer patients who are increasingly
expected to self-medicate at home.
He said: “We have understood for a long time that empowering the
patient is really important because they are the people who need to understand
their treatment enough to report back on side effects and help us monitor
their treatment and make adjustments.”
The issue of good quality medicines management has become more important
as traditional oncology practice has changed with patients taking oral
treatments at home rather than attending hospital clinics to receive
their medicines, he explained.
The results of the
patient survey reveal that 94 per cent of patients who attended the
Royal Marsden NHS Foundation Trust in London said that staff explained
the purpose of the medicines they were taking at home in a way that they
could understand and 95 per cent of them reported they were also told
clearly how to take their medicines.
The Clatterbridge Centre for Oncology NHS Trust in the Wirral was also
one of the highest scoring trusts with 72 per cent of patients reporting
that they were told what side effects to watch out for when they received
their medicines.
Another high-scoring trust was the specialist cardiothoracic Papworth
Hospital in Cambridgeshire, where 86 per cent of patients said they were
given clear written information about their medicines.
However, not all trusts performed well for provision of medicines information.
West Hertfordshire Hospitals NHS Trust had the lowest score in two of
the four questions about medicines management.
Only 31 per cent of patients said they were told about what medicine
side effects to look out for when they went home and just over half of
patients (59 per cent) said they were given clear written information
about their medicines.
The national medicines management picture was also poor. Forty-six per
cent of patients in 2007 received no information about medicine side
effects, compared with 45 per cent in 2006. On average, 9 per cent of
patients said they did not understand how to take their medicines, with
lack of appropriate information ranging from 2 per cent in some trusts
up to 19 per cent in others.
The results of the annual survey were based on the responses to questionnaires
from 76,000 adult inpatients at 165 trusts in England.
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The
Pharmaceutical Journal
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