The recent Medication Errors Report commissioned by The Department of Health and Social Care estimates that 237 million medication errors occur every year.
Within care homes, 92.8% of errors occurred in the administration stage. As carers have to sort through numerous medications for many patients, the risk of human error is high. Even small errors could lead to poor health and reduced quality of life for patients.
Administering medication can also take up a lot of carer time, on top of popping pills out of blister packs and sorting medication into doses. With many patients to care for and busy daily schedules, this time could be valued elsewhere, in delivering other vital care.
PillTime can help
PillTime is an NHS community pharmacy with a difference. We provide a free service which helps to reduce medication administration errors. We use robotic technology to pre-sort medication into pouches, and optical recognition techniques to ensure accuracy, so carers can be confident that their patients are taking the right medication at the right time, with no need to spend valuable time sorting doses.
All medication that needs to be taken at a particular time is dispensed into a single pouch. The pouches are clearly labelled with when they need to be taken and full descriptions of the contents. We deliver throughout England, providing a MAR chart with every PillTime box.
PillTime frees up carers to provide other care, so they can help their patients stay as healthy and comfortable as possible. Where appropriate, carers can simply supervise the administration of medication. Everything is clearly labelled, so there’s full visibility over what has been taken.
The PillTime solution could dramatically reduce medication errors and improve patient care. Providing more accurate medication, we can help patients feel better for longer.
