Parkinson's UK has highlighted the shocking failures in hospital treatment for those in Scotland with the condition

Scotland’s hospitals fail to give people with Parkinson’s medication on time more than 100,000 times each year

That’s just one of the shocking findings in a new report published today by Parkinson’s UK Scotland. The report - Get It On Time - highlights systematic failures in Scotland’s hospitals that mean that people with Parkinson’s don’t receive their vital medication at their prescribed times.

Parkinson’s is complex. People typically take different medicines at specific times each day - and these often do not coincide with ward drug rounds. If people don’t get their Parkinson’s medication at the right time and dose, the results can be catastrophic. Some people become extremely unwell very quickly. It can take weeks to recover symptom control, and some people never recover.

There are around 12,400 people with Parkinson’s in Scotland - a number which is set to increase by 20% over the next decade. About a quarter of people with Parkinson’s will be admitted to hospital at least once each year.

The charity says every time someone with Parkinson’s is admitted to hospital they run the risk of medication errors making their Parkinson’s symptoms worse. The report shows more than half of all Parkinson’s drug doses administered in hospital are late or missed.

The experience of Chris Snowden from Edinburgh is typical of what people with Parkinson’s tell us about their struggles to get their medication on time and the impact it has when their drugs are late. Chris is a former nurse who has lived with Parkinson’s for 19 years since she was diagnosed at the age of 46. In recent years Chris has been admitted to Edinburgh Royal Infirmary twice following serious falls she had as a result of her Parkinson’s symptoms. She is now awaiting admission for a routine operation. Chris said: “I absolutely dread going into hospital again and have made it clear to my doctors that I’ll only go if it’s absolutely essential.

“My fear is a result of the appalling treatment I received both times I was admitted before. I’m utterly dependent on getting my Parkinson’s medication on time but the hospital’s systems couldn’t accommodate this. The inflexibility meant that my symptoms got worse and caused me to get incredibly anxious. It even got to the point that despite having a fractured sternum I wanted to discharge myself from hospital. I called my family to come and get me and naturally this caused them some anxiety too!

“While some staff were understanding, others really lost patience with my constant reminders about the need for me to get my medication on time. Some staff had never been trained to understand the importance of timely medication. I recall that on one day when I buzzed for the third time to say that my medication was over an hour late and that I was really struggling I got a severe dressing down for being a pest.”

Annie Macleod, director of Parkinson’s UK Scotland, said: “It is scandalous that hospitals don’t have safety systems to make sure that people with Parkinson’s get their medication on time. People with Parkinson’s and their families tell us repeatedly about how hospital stays have made their symptoms worse, leading to longer hospital stays. In some cases, the consequences are devastating.

“As a former nurse myself, I understand the pressures that ward staff are under, but NHS boards must act when people are harmed in Scotland’s hospitals. That includes making sure that ward staff understand that Parkinson’s medicines timings are crucial, and have systems in place to support administering medication on time.”

Dr Tracey Gillies, medical director at NHS Lothian, said: "We cannot discuss individual patient cases.

"However, staff work hard to give medicines to patients at a time that is right for them.

"We are also introducing electronic prescribing, which will support real-time administration of medicines."

A Scottish Government spokesman said: "The Scottish Government and NHS Scotland are investing £257m each year into the maintenance, upgrading and implementation of core health IT systems, including the roll-out of hospital electronic prescribing and medicines administrations systems.

"Electronic prescribing has already been successfully implemented in four health boards across Scotland, and all remaining NHS boards have told us they are on track to roll it out within the next three to five years."