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CASE NOTES
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PROGRAMME INFO |
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DrÌýMark PorterÌýgives listeners the low-down on what the medical profession does and doesn't know. Each week an expert in the studio tacklesÌýa particular topic and there are reports from around the UK on the health of the nation - and the NHS.
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Contact Case Notes |
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LISTEN AGAIN Ìý30 min |
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PRESENTER |
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"I spend half my week practising medicine and the other half writing and talking about it as a GP in Gloucestershire. Working on Case Notes has been a boon for both me and my patients. One of the principal aims of the programme is to keep our listeners up-to-date with the latest developments in healthcare, and to accomplish that I get to interview a wide range of specialists at the cutting edge of medicine. A rare privilege that ensures our listeners aren't the only ones to learn something new."
Mark Porter
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PROGRAMME DETAILS |
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 Full programme transcript >>
Prescriptions
About 1.3 million paper prescriptions are issued every working day in England, and over two thirds of these are for repeat medicines.
In this episode of Case Notes Dr Mark Porter looks at all aspects of prescribing drugs, from the politics of compliance and prescription charges, to solutions to the age-old problem of reading doctors' bad handwriting.
Mark visits the Bristol Royal Infirmary to find out how a new high-tech robot will help the hospital deal with prescriptions more accurately and safely. The robot can also dispense drugs more quickly than humans, leaving pharmacists free to focus on the patients.
Mark also discovers the history of prescriptions, and deciphers the Latin abbreviations that are still written on them today. Briony Hudson of the Royal Pharmaceutical Society's museum has produced an information sheet which helps historians to unravel the mystery that doctors and pharmacists deliberately cloaked prescriptions in.
Nowadays, even though the language used on prescriptions is clearer, a doctor's poor handwriting can sometimes mean that the wrong drug, or the wrong dose is dispensed. Mistakes are less common now that many GP's practices use printed prescriptions - as long as the doctor presses the right buttons in the first place!
However, getting the correct medicine to the patient is sometimes only half the battle. The issue of non-compliance, where a patient doesn't follow their prescription properly, is a big concern for many doctors. According to recent reports, 15% of prescriptions are not taken to the pharmacist and another 25% of patients do not take their drugs well enough to get any medical benefit. Mark asks why.
From 2007 prescriptions will be free to everyone in Wales - Mark finds out why the Welsh Assembly took the decision, and asks if the English, Scottish or Northern Irish authorities will ever follow suit.
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RELATED LINKS
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