Fixing the time critical medication problem in Scotland

What's the issue?

People with Parkinson's need their medication on time every time. Yet over half of people with the condition don't get their medications on time in hospital. This can cause stress, anxiety, immobility, severe tremors, and in some extreme cases death.

Our Get It On Time campaign is working to change this.

What did we discuss?

Held in Edinburgh, our summit was chaired by former BBC football journalist, Roddy Forsyth, who has Parkinson's.

Neil Gray, Cabinet Secretary for Health and Social Care, gave opening remarks by video, expressing his wish for positive outcomes from the summit. He reflected on his recent meeting with Parkinson's UK Scotland, and expressed his support for people with Parkinson's getting the safe care they need.

Parkinson's nurse Nick Bryden then explained how using the e-prescribing system at NHS Ayrshire & Arran has helped ward nurses make huge improvements in giving people with Parkinson's their medicines on time. 

Discussions highlighted that while there's no single 'silver bullet' there are opportunities to make significant improvements by:

• delivering a national improvement programme led by NHS Health Improvement Scotland
• using digital prescribing and IT systems to increase the number of people receiving their medicines on time, learning from NHS Ayrshire & Arran
• making sure all frontline ward staff have knowledge and training via NHS Education for Scotland
• empowering people to self-administer their medicines in hospital as they would at home.

In a piece of immediate good news, the Scottish government committed to revising its safe medicines materials to include specific information and case studies about Parkinson's medicines. This will give staff the knowledge they need to make sure people with Parkinson's get their medication on time.

Sharing stories

Linda Corbett from Falkirk shared the experiences of her late husband, Alan, who lived with Parkinson's for many years.

Alan had many long stays in hospital. Linda explained what happened when he didn't receive his Parkinson's medicine on time, which happened frequently. In addition to the devastating impact on Alan's physical and mental health, Linda also described the extreme stress that she and their adult children went through.

Alan was a tireless campaigner for our Get It On Time campaign. Linda explained her frustration and sadness that people with Parkinson's remain at risk of harm in hospitals in Scotland.

Next steps

Attendees at the summit agreed that urgent action is needed to tackle this important issue. And many of them are well-placed to encourage national bodies to act.

We will build on the positive discussions at the summit and continue to work with partners to make sure people in hospital on time critical medicines get their medication on time, every time.

James Jopling, Scotland Director for Parkinson's UK, said:

"There was a commitment at the summit to make change. We'll be drawing up a report and an action plan. We want to be able to report back to the Cabinet Secretary for Health and Social Care, who opened the summit, on real progress over the next 6 to 12 months.

"Ultimately we want to get to a place where people with Parkinson's are more safely considered and more safely cared for, as their medication will be available to them when they need them in hospital."