New pharmacy rules 'should reduce dispensing mistakes'

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New pharmacy rules 'should reduce dispensing mistakes'
By Claire Savage 5 live Investigates

Health ministers want to introduce an airline-style error reporting system for the UK's high street pharmacies.

The government hopes it will provide more accurate information about the number of mistakes being made.

Voluntary reporting by pharmacists shows 10,000 medication errors a year, out of a billion prescriptions issued.

But academic research suggests that a quarter of a million patients are given the wrong medicine every year, with a million more so-called "near misses".

Seven patient deaths have been linked to high street chemists since 2009.

There are 36,750 high street or community pharmacists in the UK. According to support groups, an increasing number of them are feeling stressed due to the pressure of ever-rising numbers of prescriptions.

Under the Medicines' Act, pharmacists face criminal charges if they own up to making a mistake.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-32832536

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