Your medicines - taking them safely

Medicines use is the most common intervention in healthcare but ensuring that medicines are used safely can be challenging.

An estimated 237 million medication errors occur in NHS England every year and 68.3 million errors (28% of total) cause moderate or serious harm.

These errors could be:

1. Not taking note of expiration dates
2. Taking the incorrect dosage
3. Not taking the quantity prescribed - too many or too few
4. Taking at the wrong time of day or at incorrect time intervals
5. Combining drugs without healthcare guidance

We want people to take an active role in the management of their medication, feel confident in using or taking their medications and feel able to ask healthcare professionals questions, if they are unsure about anything or don't feel confident. 

To find out more about medication safety, read our leaflet below. 

Know, Check, Ask is a simple three-step message to help you, your family and those in a caring role, understand the importance of using medicines safely. Our colleagues at the Frimley Health Foundation Trust have produced this short video to help you understand more and you can download a helpful leaflet from the World Health Organisation here.

If you want to know more about your specific medication you can visit the NHS A-Z medicines page HERE.

How Frimley Health and Care is helping people use their medicines more safely.

In recognition of the importance of improving medicines safety, Frimley Health and Care have invested in the development of a Medicines Safety Programme which will target both national and local NHS priorities.

The programme aims to:

• Reduce medication related harm to our population and improve patient outcomes through the safe use of medicines
• Involve patients and the wider public and health and care staff in discussions and decisions so that we can help to reduce medication errors
• Develop an open culture of sharing and learning from medication errors
• Develop solutions and new ideas, that lead to the safe use of medicines, including opportunities to change culture and better use technology

One of the main areas of the programme is to increase public awareness of the importance of using medication safely. We also want to improve the quality and availability of medicines information for patients and the public so that they can make informed choices about the use of medicines for their health conditions.

We hope that this page will encourage people who take medication regularly, to be more involved in decisions about their medicines and encourage them to report or discuss issues and concerns with their healthcare professional.