Medicines Management
Issue no 6, p4
November/December 2002

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NPSA says hospitals must have safe medicines practice committees

Hospitals who do not already have a "safe medicines practice committee" have been advised by Professor David Cousins, head of safe medication practices at the National Patient Safety Agency, to develop one.

Professor Cousins, who was speaking at the Hospital Pharmacist conference held in London at the end of October, explained that the role of such committees would be to monitor reports of medical erros and produce local solutions and then apply them. Only by the development of such multidisciplinary committees would hopsitals develop a "no-blame" culture for error reporting, for lessons to be learnt from the mistakes made, and for errors to reduce as a result.