AS many as 49 per cent of prescriptions given to Basildon Hospital patients are wrong, a leading pharmacist at the hospital has said.

Inspectors from NHS England said medicine management was still not good enough at the hospital, but noted some good practice was identified.

Concerns were raised that about 30 per cent of prescriptions given to patients when they were discharged were checked to ensure they were correct.

Normal practice would be to check them all.

The report says: “GPs have reported not feeling confident in discharge medication. In particular, the pharmacy lead expressed concern high error rates could still continue. It was felt the clinical risk of this had not been fully appreciated by the trust.”

Examples of errors included courses of antibiotics which should have been continued on discharge were not continued, while some medications that should have been stopped were carried on.

Monitor and the Care Quality Commission are expected to check medicine management has improved through its normal review process.