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<p>The Department has made no such assessment.</p><p> </p><p>The National Institute
for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) and the National Patient Safety Agency (NPSA)
issued joint guidance, <em>Technical patient safety solutions for medicines reconciliation
on admission of adults to hospital</em> in December 2007, which aims to reduce medication
errors, which occur most commonly on transfer between care settings and on admission
to hospital. This guidance applies to all patients, including those with Parkinson's
disease and is available at:</p><p> </p><p>www.nice.org.uk/nicemedia/live/11897/38560/38560.pdf</p><p>
</p><p>The NPSA also issued a Rapid Response Report on <em>Reducing harm from omitted
and delayed medicines in hospital </em>in February 2010. This makes reference to medicines
where timeliness of administration is crucial, including those for Parkinson's disease.
This is available at:</p><p> </p><p>www.nrls.npsa.nhs.uk/alerts/?entryid45=66720</p><p>
</p><p>NICE, the NPSA and the Royal Pharmaceutical Society have all identified the
key role of pharmacists in medicines reconciliation and the majority of hospitals
now have pharmacists on admission wards to help ensure patients' medicines are reconciled
promptly.</p><p> </p><p>A strong reporting culture, where safety incidents are reported
and monitored is essential to improving safety for all patients, including those with
Parkinson's disease. NHS England and the <a title="Medicines and Healthcare products
Regulatory Agency (MHRA) website - Opens in a new window" href="http://www.mhra.gov.uk/"
target="_blank">Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency</a> jointly issued
two patient safety alerts on 20 March 2014 to help healthcare providers increase incident
reporting for <a href="http://www.england.nhs.uk/2014/03/20/med-devices#mederr" target="_blank">medication
errors</a> and <a href="http://www.england.nhs.uk/2014/03/20/med-devices#meddev" target="_blank">medical
devices</a>. The alerts instruct providers to take specific steps that will improve
data reporting quality; and will see the establishment of national networks to maximise
learning and provide guidance on minimising harm relating to these incident types.</p><p>
</p><p>The measures announced by my Rt Hon Friend, the Secretary of State for Health
on 26 March, as part of his invitation to NHS organisations to ‘Sign up to Safety',
are also likely to lead to an increase in the number of reported incidents of harm
in the National Health Service even though care will be getting safer.</p><p> </p>
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