The Health Information and Quality Authority is calling for a number of improvements in medication-safety at Portiuncula University Hospital in Ballinasloe.
In a report published today, the watchdog claims medication-related incidents are under-reported at the east Galway hospital and there was poor oversight of them.
It also found a ‘significant risk’ due to a lack of a clinical pharmacy service across three wards.
In July, Hiqa carried out an announced inspection of medication-safety of the hospital Ballinasloe and has today published its findings.
During the course of the inspection, the watchdog was informed that medication-related incidents and near-misses were under-reported at the hospital.
Hiqa claims structures and systems to support medication-safety need to be strengthened.
The hospital’s drugs and therapeutic committee was re-established in 2015, but Hiqa claims that, as it didn’t discuss medication incidents, there was poor governance oversight of them.
The health watchdog also found the hospital didn’t have a formal medication-safety programme in place.
It called for measures to be put in place to ensure medication-management processes are safe and for improvement in adverse-medication-incident reporting.
Hiqa also claims the fact the emergency department, paediatric and maternity wards didn’t have a dedicated clinical pharmacy service represented a ‘significant risk’.
Saolta University Healthcare Group, which manages the hospital, hasn’t yet responded to requests for comment from Shannonside FM.
