Prescription or dispensing errors can lead to serious health consequences for patients. They are a serious problem, with 1,420 medication errors occurring within the NHS between 2015 and 2020. Receiving the wrong medication can cause patients severe harm. The wrong medicine could lead to a patient’s condition getting worse and causing avoidable harm. In this guide we look at what dispensing errors are and how to claim compensation.
Our guide begins by looking at when you could be eligible to seek compensation for a prescription error. We then look at what may be taken into account when calculating compensation. Following this, you can find information on potential causes of dispensing errors and the risks of being given the wrong medication. At the end of this guide you can find information on how to make a claim and how we could help you.
Get in touch with our team if you have been harmed by clinical or medical negligence.
- Call us today on 0800 073 8804.
- Make a claim online by completing our form.
- Talk to us about claims for medication errors on our live chat.
Browse Our Guide
- My Pharmacy Gave Me The Wrong Medication – Could I Claim?
- Average Compensation Amounts For Dispensing Errors
- Common Causes Of Dispensing Errors
- The Risks Involved When A Pharmacy Gives The Wrong Medication
- How To Make A Dispensing Error Claim
- Why Choose Legal Expert For Your Claim?
- More Information
My Pharmacy Gave Me The Wrong Medication – Could I Claim?
Medication may be prescribed, prepared, or administered by various medical professionals. In this guide, we specifically examine instances in which a pharmacist has dispensed the wrong medicine to a patient, causing unnecessary or avoidable harm.
Pharmacies and registered pharmacists have a duty of care when preparing and dispensing medication for patients. They must follow industry and professional standards and good practice, and failure to do so may be considered medical negligence.
Patients could claim for harm caused by receiving the wrong medication where:
- The pharmacy and pharmacy professionals (such as a pharmacist or pharmacy technician) owed you a duty of care when dispensing medicines.
- They breached the duty of care, for example, they may have prepared and dispensed the wrong medication.
- The above breach caused avoidable or unnecessary harm.
- The claimant is within the limitation period.
When you contact a member of our team they could review your case and assess whether you have a valid claim against a pharmacy for negligence. Contact our team today for further information on when you can sue for prescription errors.
Average Compensation Amounts For Dispensing Errors
The first thing we should say is that there is no average amount of compensation which may be paid out either for a dispensing error or for a specific type of harm. As we will see through this guide, medication dispensing errors could cause a variety of different forms of harm. This means that in order to be able to estimate how much compensation claims are worth, a solicitor must firstly assess the case.
In most compensation claims, a settlement may be made up of two types of damages. These are known as special damages and general damages. We will look at special damages in the following section.
General damages are awarded for any pain and suffering caused by the medication error. When valuing these, parties to a claim (such as a medical negligence solicitor) may use the guidelines published by the Judicial College (JCG).
Below you can find figures from the JCG. These figures should be taken only as a guideline and the amount your pharmacy negligence claim is awarded may differ. The first figure is not from the JCG.
| Harm | Severity | Damages |
|---|---|---|
| Multiple forms of harm. | Serious to severe | Up to £500,000+ where special damages are claimed. |
| Injuries affecting sight | Total blindness - B | Around £327,940 |
| Kidney damage | Permanent, serious damage to both or loss. | £206,730 to £256,780 |
| Bowels | Total loss of natural function - B | Up to £183,190 |
| Bladder | Loss of control and function | Up to £171,680 |
| Deafness/ tinnitus | Total deafness - B | £110,750 to £133,810 |
| Psychiatric damage | Severe - A | £66,920 to £141,240 |
| Male reproductive system | Uncomplicated sterility cases - D | £68,430 to £87,080 |
| Female reproductive system | Infertility, not aggravated. | £68,440 to £87,070 |
| Spleen | Loss of the spleen, minimal risks. | £5,310 to £10,550 |
Factors That Can Affect Your Payout
You may be awarded special damages in addition to the general damages discussed above. To show that you are eligible to claim for any of the types of expenses or other losses listed below you must provide supporting proof or evidence.
Things you could claim for and supporting evidence may include:
- Wage slips showing reduced income, such as loss of earnings due to time taken off work.
- Invoices for the cost of private medical care.
- Travel tickets showing the cost of getting to and from medical appointments.
- Receipts and similar proof for the cost of prescription medication.
One of our medical negligence solicitors could help you to collect evidence proving both your case and any entitlement to special damages.
Common Causes Of Dispensing Errors
Dispensing errors are a type of patient safety incident. They may be defined as deviations from a written prescription that occur during the dispensing process.
Potential types of drug dispensing errors could include:
- Labelling errors – where the medication is correctly dispensed, but the label on the medication is incorrect. This may contain the wrong information on dosage, frequency, etc.
- Item errors – where the wrong medication is prepared for the patient.
- Dose errors – where the wrong dosage of a medication is prepared. This may lead to a patient having too low or too high a dosage. Both of which could be dangerous.
- Wrong patient – where the prescription is dispensed to the wrong patient.
- Documentation errors – whilst the correct medication and dosage are dispensed the wrong documentation is provided.
Any of these medication safety incidents could cause a patient harm. Please contact us to find out what to do if a pharmacy gives you the wrong medication in the UK..
The Risks Involved When A Pharmacy Gives The Wrong Medication
The risks and consequences of dispensing errors could widely vary. These risks may depend on the patient’s original condition, what medication was prescribed and dispensed and the type of error made. How severe the impact may be could also depend on how long it takes to rectify the harm caused.
Potential risks and consequences of dispensing errors may include:
- The patient’s medical condition getting worse due to the lack of correct treatment. This may include the development of new or long-term complications.
- New harm being caused by getting the wrong medication or wrong dosage, etc.
- Long-term disabilities which could result in an impaired quality of life in the patient.
- Death. The most serious dispensing errors could lead to death, due either to an overdose, underdose, wrong medication or lack of treatment.
These are just some of the potential risks caused by being given the wrong prescription or other dispensing errors.
How To Make A Dispensing Error Claim
You could claim compensation if you were harmed by the wrong prescription being dispensed by a pharmacy. In order to do so, you must follow the claims process. Below we look at some of the steps you may need to take and answers to questions you may have.
The Evidence You’ll Need
One of the most important steps in the medical negligence claims process is collecting evidence to support your case.
You may submit evidence such as:
- A copy of your medical records which show what medication you were prescribed, your initial condition and subsequent harm suffered. These may include test result highlighting if the wrong medication or dose was present in your system.
- Any correspondence between you, the pharmacy and your healthcare provider.
- Photos of any visible symptoms of harm.
- The contact details of anyone who witnessed the (wrong) medication being dispensed.
If you choose to make your pharmacy negligence claim with one of our solicitors they could help you collect evidence.
How Long You Have To Start A Claim
All claims for wrong medication or dispensing errors are subject to a limitation period. This time limit begins either on the date on which medical negligence took place or the date on which you discover the harm/ negligence.
In general this time limit is three years and is set by the Limitation Act 1980. There are circumstances in which this time limit may be suspended. For example, where the person harmed was under the age of eighteen at the time of receiving the wrong medication. They will need a suitable adult to claim on their behalf, acting as a litigation friend. This may be done at any point prior to them turning eighteen, at which the standard three-year limit will apply. The time limit may also be suspended where a claimant does not have the mental capacity to launch their own claim. Again, a suitable adult may claim on their behalf. They may do so at any point, unless the person regains their mental capacity.
How Long It Can Take To Receive Compensation
How long compensation takes to come through could depend on several factors. Some of these factors are:
- The complexity of the case. The more complex the circumstances in which medical negligence took place, the longer the claim may take.
- What evidence is needed to support your case and how long it takes to secure this evidence.
- Whether the pharmacy/ pharmacist admits liability for the indecent.
The more severe and complex the harm suffered, the longer a claim may take.
In addition to claiming compensation, you could also make a complaint about a dispensing error. Learn more about how we could help by contacting our team.
Why Choose Legal Expert For Your Claim?
Our solicitors are experienced in handling medical negligence claims, such as those for dispensing errors. They could help you to follow the stages of a medical negligence claim and seek compensation.
If they believe that you have a valid case they could even do so on a No Win No Fee basis. They could offer you a Conditional Fee Agreement. This is a way for a solicitor to begin working on a case without charging legal fees in advance.
By claiming in this way, a solicitor will only charge for their work at the end of a successful case. At this point, they would deduct a pre-agreed fee (set as a percentage of the award).
Begin your claim for a prescription error today by:
- Talking to us over our chat.
- Calling us on 0800 073 8804.
- Or click claim online to complete a contact form.
More Information
Throughout this guide we have provided information on what to do if a pharmacy gives you the wrong medication in the UK. Below, you can find guides from our site as well as external sources.
- In this guide we look at how to claim compensation for prescription errors by a health care professional.
- Here we learn more about making a pregabalin wrong medication negligence claim.
- Check what to do if prescribed the wrong medication by a healthcare professional.
References
- In this resource from NHS England you can learn more about the numbers of medication errors recorded.
- Negligent medical care may be reported to the Care Quality Commission, CQC.
- Get information on Statutory Sick Pay in this resource from the government.
Thank you for reading our guide on dispensing errors. Please get in touch with our team to learn more about how one of our medical negligence solicitors could help you.
