Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps his Department is taking to improve the administration of medicines in NHS trusts.

The Department has established the Medicine Safety Improvement Programme, as part of the national NHS Patient Safety Strategy, to co-ordinate the work on reducing the burden of errors related to medication.

The Medicine Safety Improvement Programme is working to meet the World Health Organization’s Medication Without Harm Challenge. The programme will look at a number of areas to support the improvement of safe medication administration in National Health Service trusts including better use of technology, guidance and support and how best to educate and inform patients about their medicines.