Omnicell technology improves medicines administration and patient safety, delivering better health outcomes and saving money
An estimated 273 million medication errors occur in the NHS in England each year. These include errors in dispensing, prescribing, administration and monitoring.
Nearly one-third of these errors results in moderate or serious harm to patients, including adverse drug reactions and drug-to-drug interactions. The cost to the NHS of avoidable adverse drug reactions is estimated to be around £98 million per year, consuming 180,000 hospital bed days, directly causing more than 700 deaths and contributing to a further 1,700 deaths.
We feel very strongly about these issues
As the leading supplier of automated medicine solutions, we have clear ideas about how our technology can help eliminate the large number of medication errors in the NHS, ensuring patient safety, improving NHS operational efficiency and realising cost savings.
As the leading supplier of automated medicine solutions, we have clear ideas about how our technology can help eliminate the large number of medication errors in the NHS, ensuring patient safety, improving NHS operational efficiency and realising cost savings.
Electronic prescribing and medication administration systems, including automated medicines dispensing technology, can help significantly reduce medication errors, thereby safeguarding patient safety.
The initial cost of the capital investment is more than offset by the benefits. There are financial, economic and operational advantages to using automated medicines dispensing technology as part of a comprehensive electronic prescribing and medicines administration system.
An optimised medicines management strategy aims to ensure that the patient gets the right medicine at the right time and minimise wastage. Automated medicines dispensing technology meets all of these needs, as well as giving full control over your medicines inventory.
"The introduction of automated cabinets is one component part of the full medicine distribution process. When combined with other interventions, such as the extension of electronic prescribing systems, evidence suggests that fully integrated electronic prescribing and administration can reduce prescribing-based medication errors by approximately 50%."
Caroline Dineage, MP and Minister of State for Care
Further Reading
SAFE: Banishing Medication Errors in Secondary Care (Safeguard Against Frontline Errors)
The report ‘SAFE: Banishing Medication Errors in Secondary Care (Safeguard Against Frontline Errors)’ was commissioned by Omnicell as part of our ongoing campaign to raise awareness and promote best practice standards of care for the management of medication to help drive change and improve patient safety across healthcare settings in secondary care.
Authored by a leading pharmaceutical expert, it found that within secondary care settings the implementation of automated medication administration systems alongside ePMA systems would dramatically reduce the risk of medication errors. By putting the two systems in place together, Trusts will be able to strengthen patient safety from the moment the drug is prescribed to when it is administered to the patient.
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