Patients leaving hospital could be put at risk from potential reactions to their medicines

Patients leaving hospital could be put at risk from potential reactions to their medicines, a report suggests.

A lack of communication between hospitals and doctors' surgeries means some patients may receive drugs without their GP's knowledge.

Others may be prescribed medicines that interact badly with other drugs while some patients could be given things they are allergic to.

The regulator the Care Quality Commission (CQC), which compiled the study, called for the NHS to improve the way it shares information when patients move between services.

It visited 12 primary care trusts (PCTs) around England and carried out surveys at 280 GP surgeries.

The CQC found 98% of GP surgeries provided medicines information to hospitals for non-emergency cases but not all were systematically listing previous drug reactions (24%), other illnesses a patient had (14%) or known allergies (11%).

When the CQC asked GP practices about the quality of information given by hospitals when they discharge patients, 81% said details of medicines was incomplete or inaccurate 'all of the time' or 'most of the time'.

Almost half (47%) of doctors also complained that it took too long for hospital discharge summaries to arrive, meaning patients were seen without a full set of records.

Prescribing errors and a failure to review medication after a patient leaves hospital are known to cause harm to patients every year.

Such errors and near-misses were the fourth most commonly reported issue to the National Patient Safety Agency during 2008.