Seamus McBrien reading his letter from the Trust
AN ENNISKILLEN man at the centre of a medical blunder has received an apology from the Western Health Trust.
Health officials at the South West Acute Hospital (SWAH) have told Seamus McBrien, of Cavanaleck, that a new policy has been introduced following the error in August.
Seamus, who was admitted to hospital after suffering a hernia, was handed the wrong medication, including tablets for Alzheimer’s and osteoporosis, after he was discharged a number of hours later.
Mr McBrien discovered the bag contained six medication bottles with no prescription name.
After contacting the health board to report the mistake, Mr McBrien last week met the Western Trust’s Emergency Care Co-ordinator, Diane McCaffrey and Paula McBraiden, the complaint’s officer.
It emerged during the meeting that the prescribed medication belonged to another hospital patient who had been discharged from the assessment unit 10 days prior to Mr McBrien and had left her tablets in the locker.
Mr McBrien said: “I suffer from high blood pressure, so I took my tablets with me the morning I went to the assessment unit because I was having stomach pains.
“I was admitted into one of the rooms on that ward for a few hours while I was being treated. But another patient who had been in that same room 10 days before me was discharged from there and moved to a different ward in the hospital.
“She had forgotten some of her tablets which were left in a secured locker and she was sent to another ward and I was told that’s how the medication ended up in there.”
He revealed that the Trust has now decided upon a new policy so when a new patient comes into the room, their locker will be left open.
Mr McBrien was told at the meeting that it was the first time such a mistake has occurred in the last 12 months.
He added: “Approximately 65,000 people have gone through that ward and it has never happened before, so I’m glad to hear mine was just a one off.”
He said that he was happy with the outcome of the investigation: “The Trust never tried to hide the truth. My advice would be to anyone who has an issue or problem with the health service to go and speak to them about it.”
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