Hospitals - Doctors - Prescribing Drugs.

[Barquentine]

FIL is on a list of around nine or so different drugs - simvastatin, bisoprolol, ramipril, senna, morphine et cetera et cetera. Somehow my wife keeps tabs on all of them and makes sure he takes the right ones at the right times. His metastasised prostate cancer necessitates periodic hospital visits - if he gets pains that might indicate spinal compression for example. Every time we go to the same hospital - and every time each and every doctor asks us what pills he's on! You ring up to see if we need to take him in - they ask what pills he's on - you arrive & the first doctor that sees you asks what pills he's on - then he goes to another department and a different doctor asks what pills he's on. Then they prescribe him another three drugs. Before Grenfell people merrily assumed experts knew what they were doing. A.G. this is no longer certain. I lost it a bit once and asked if the hospital had heard of 'computers'. It does not inspire confidence. Does anyone know if, when they prescribe more and more medicines, someone somewhere at the hospital will have checked that all 12 different drugs do not interact with each other and cause iatrogenic complications?

[Zacs-Master]

Why don’t you just write them down and show them to save you having to say them each and every time?

[weecalf]

Remember in the Ryan o neill film the judge took pills and said what each was for and that the blue wan was to remind him to take another coloured one .

[pixie374]

They usually ask you to take in a repeat prescription for each visit, so that might be easier than having to remember them all.

[barry1010]

That is exactly why they ask again and again what medicines he is taking - to make sure they don't work against each other or the combination doesn't cause harm.

With every prescription issued he should get a paper copy of all his medicines, tell him to keep the latest one in his wallet.

[Eve]

I've had quite a few instances where I've been prescribed medication I shouldn't have been due to other medication, and the wrong medication/dosage and thankfully, me being on the ball, prevented an issue.

I take a document with me which has a list of medical conditions then a list of medication, set out in a clear way for medical people as to what is taken for what.

I also carry a copy of my repeat prescription with me. You can ask for a copy from your GP surgery, or, I find the pharmacy that deals with my repeat prescriptions tend to be sent spare ones every time so easy to get one there. Not all of my medication is on my repeat though as some comes via a special home care team and some only via a hospital pharmacy. I always keep the slips from those too.

Pharmacists are also useful for checking interactions. I've checked with them before now to make sure meds don't interact or for advice as to what should be taken when etc... They do tend to do medicine reviews periodically, where you can go to a private area, go through all your meds, make sure they are being taken properly, at the right times etc... So maybe worth asking for one?

Alternatively, ask a GP for a medicines review. They seem to have a system which flags up potential interactions with other medication you are on the system as being prescribed, as I know issues have been flagged and discussed with me for medications previously.

[Prudie]

I have no experience of this but all I can say is crikey - don't they have all this on record? I'm stunned you're supposed to have all this stuff written down yourself.

[pixie374]

I'm sure they do, for those that allowed theirs to be centralised. It does seem unlikely they would purely go by a patient's recall. Many won't know what they are on, and a lot of medications have silly or similar names.

[Prudie]

That makes sense pixie, the idea that patients go in with their own written lists is somewhat concerning.

[marval]

When I go to the hospital they have all my records on the computer. No need to ask or take a prescription form with me.

[pixie374]

I remember it coming in about centralising details. But also that many were very wary or even outraged by the idea... so there may be many people who didn't consent at the time.