Intensive Care: Drugs

(asked on 16th November 2020) - View Source

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask Her Majesty's Government what steps they are taking (1) to inform, and (2) to implement, the use of ready-to-use critical care medicines such as noradrenaline at trust-level; and what assessment they have made of the impact of these medicines on (a) safety levels, (b) drug error rates, and (c) nursing time saved.


Answered by
Lord Bethell Portrait
Lord Bethell
This question was answered on 26th November 2020

The Department commissioned Lord Carter of Coles to look into the provision of aseptic medicines, including some critical care medicines, in England. The noble Lord published his report on 29 October 2020. He made a number of recommendations, including setting up a network of hub and spoke facilities to prepare ready to administer medicines, providing guidance on standard injectable medicines, and training for aseptic pharmacy staff.

NHS England and NHS Improvement are setting up an NHS Aseptic Services transformation implementation board to co-ordinate the implementation of these recommendations.

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