Do patients with Parkinson’s Disease receive their medication on time?

Aims: To audit any delays in delivery of patients’ usual anti-Parkinson’s disease medication (PD medication) when admitted to the acute admissions. Methods: A retrospective audit of 17 patient admissions conducted in November 2010 at the Cumberland Infirmary, Carlisle (CIC), examining the delay in medication delivery from time of admission. Following improvement strategies, a prospective re-audit of 15 admissions was carried out between 11 months later to monitor any improvements made. A data collection sheet was devised and used for both audits. Results: Initial audit showed only 47% of patients did not experience delays with medicine administration; 29% waited more than 24hours. Re-audit showed a reduction in waiting times, with 73% of patients experiencing no delay and the remaining 27% waiting less than 24hours. Conclusions: Vast improvements made, reducing delay in delivery of patients’ usual anti-Parkinson’s disease medication, though not statistically significant. Ongoing improvement plans have education at the centre, to improve understanding amongst health care professionals of potential serious consequences omission of anti-Parkinson’s medication can have.