Hospital Patient, Gateside (Drug Order)

HC Deb 18 July 1963 vol 681 cc104-5W

Sir H. Linstead

asked the Secretary of State for Scotland what were the circumstances in which an order for a drug for a patient at Gateside Hospital, Renfrewshire, sent by a registrar to a manufacturing firm, was countermanded by the hospital authorities; and if he will make a statement.

Mr. Noble

The normal procedure is to order any drug required through the hospital pharmacist and a doctor of junior standing has to obtain the approval of the consultant in charge of the patient where the drug is new or relatively untried.

In this case the drug was ordered direct and not through the pharmacist and, although the consultant concerned had agreed to inquiries being made, he had not approved the purchase. The patient was in fact discharged home three days after the order had been placed.

When the facts came to notice, the suppliers were informed that the order was unauthorised and that the Board of Management could not be responsible for payment. Meanwhile the drug was delivered at the hospital; it has now been returned. Had the drug been urgently needed, or the consultant approved its supply, the order would not have been cancelled.