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Source: Eastbourne Today

Date: 23-Jun-2008

AN elderly woman who was given the wrong medication for six days at Eastbourne District General Hospital died from natural causes, a coroner has ruled.

Although Iela Miller, 80, received another patient's medication after their prescription forms were muddled, it was found the blunder had not contributed 'even a couple of percentage points' to her death.

Nonetheless the trust admitted a mistake had been made and changes have been made to patient prescription records.

The Eastbourne inquest heard that Mrs Miller had received a double dose of anti-depressants and anti-psychotic drugs in error after a label with another patient's name on it was stuck over her name, which had been handwritten on a form.

Liz Fellows, clinical matron for surgery at the hospital, said labels alone were now used and forms were not handwritten so the mistake could not be made again.

Mrs Miller, who lived in Manor Road, Eastbourne, died on April 9 last year. Her inquest began in March this year but was adjourned for more evidence to be gathered.

At the first hearing the court was told Wendy Szantos, Mrs Miller's daughter, was the only person who spotted the hospital error.

Coroner Alan Craze asked Joanna Ince, a ward sister at the time, why Mrs Miller was given three separate drug charts.

He said, "Surely, if you have three drugs charts with things crossed out you would have to spend an hour reading it to work it all out.

"It was an accident waiting to happen, wasn't it?

"There is an incredible amount of paperwork involved (in drug issuing] these days.

"Where there is a vast amount of paper it is inevitable that people are going to make errors from time to time.

"It is important that the system tries to make sure those errors are kept to a minimum."

Ian Bournes, the trust's director of medicines management and pharmacy, said the fact that Mrs Miller had died six weeks after the prescription mistake was a strong indicator it was not the drugs that had caused her death.

The coroner agreed and endorsed the pathologist's finding that Mrs Miller had died from acute cardiac failure due to cardiomegaly, a condition which enlarges the heart, and hypertensive heart disease.