Moving beyond initial prescribing accuracy in the emergency village Salford Royal NHS Foundation Trust

Based at Salford Royal Hospital, this project aimed to improve prescribing accuracy in the emergency village which houses the A&E department and emergency admissions unit (EAU), and to improve the prescribing journey within EAU through to discharge. The work was led by Salford Royal NHS Foundation Trust’s pharmacy department and EAU medical and nursing staff, and was supported by the organisation’s quality improvement team.

An earlier Safer Clinical Systems project at the hospital had focused on the prescribing process for patients admitted to the emergency village on weekdays. This second phase extended the focus to weekends and spread successful interventions beyond the emergency village.

The team used the Safer Clinical Systems approach to:

• understand the prescribing pathway for patients admitted on weekends, including the risks and hazards
• understand any new hazards that had emerged since the start of the previous project
• develop and test interventions to ensure the accuracy of prescriptions for weekend admissions, as well as the accuracy of discharge medications on all days
• involve patients in assessing patient safety on the emergency admissions unit
• identify opportunities within the system for releasing resources to support new interventions.

Contact details

For further information about the project, please email Chedia Hoolickin, Quality Improvement Lead at Salford Royal NHS Foundation Trust.