Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what assessment has been made of the number of reported patient safety incidents as a result of prescription medicines being lost in delivery in each of the last five years.

Patient safety data is routinely collected by NHS England, including a breakdown of the proportion of incidents linked to community pharmacy. However, the Department does not hold data on the number of reported patient safety incidents that are a result of prescription medicines being lost in delivery.

Community pharmacies, including online pharmacies, are required to dispense all prescriptions with reasonable promptness as part of their National Health Service terms of service, recognising that it is not feasible for a pharmacy to maintain stock of every medicine. This requirement includes prescription medicines that are delivered to patients’ homes. They are also required to report any patient safety incidents to NHS England.