GPs at risk of facing medical negligence claims as new research discovers 1 in 20 prescriptions contains an error
Clinical Negligence News : 17 May 2012
Research carried out by the General Medical Council based on a sample of GPs in England has found that up to 1 in 20 prescriptions contains some sort of error. A considerable amount of concern has been raised over mistakes being made by family doctors, which although largely of a moderate nature, can contain serious errors, as outlined by the current 1 in 550 statistic.
Mistakes in prescriptions could result in doctors facing clinical negligence compensation claims from those patients who have suffered as a result of the error made. The mistakes being made most commonly involve incorrect dosages, missing information on the dosage and failing to monitor the patients health with regular blood tests.
Although in the most part these types of mistakes cause little or no harm to the patient, some circumstances, as outlined by Dr John Holden of the Medical and Dental Defence Union of Scotland, can lead to dangerous outcomes.
Dr Holden stated, “In one case a doctor prescribed methotrexate daily instead of weekly to an arthritis patient who became seriously unwell and required hospital treatment."
As a consequence of the GMC's research, three measures have been recommended in order to reduce the number of mistakes being made; improved use of computer systems, a greater role for pharmacists in supporting GPs and extra importance placed on prescribing in GP training.
Speaking about the research of which he was Team Leader, Professor Tony Avery said, "Few prescriptions were associated with significant risks to patients but it’s important that we do everything we can to avoid all errors”.