Good news for south Donegal patients as HIQA praises Sligo University Hospital

Sligo University Hospital has been praised for good practice in relation to medication safety by Health Information and Quality Authority (HIQA).

The first inspection reports by HIQA on medication safety in public acute hospitals found that where effective medication safety governance arrangements were in place, patients were better protected from potential harm related to medication use.

The seven inspections were carried out between November and December 2016 in  Bantry General Hospital, Connolly Hospital, Naas General Hospital, Nenagh Hospital, Mater Misericordiae University Hospital, Sligo University Hospital and University Hospital Waterford.

HIQA said it found a wide variation in the medication safety arrangements in place across the seven hospitals.

The inspection at Sligo found that medication safety was effectively supported by senior management in the hospital, a formal and structured medication safety programme was established, an open incident and near-miss reporting culture was promoted and a process was in a place for learning from medication-related incidents.

The inspection also found medication safety audits were carried out and learning was shared with all staff, up-to-date medication policies were in place, and good leadership was shown from key clinical staff to support medication safety.

Sean Egan, HIQA’s Acting Head of Healthcare Regulation, said:

“However, these inspections also found that learning from hospitals that have more advanced medication safety programmes in place should be shared nationally, as more needed to be done in other hospitals to better promote safer use of medicines.”