Hiqa criticises hospital over medication safety

University Hospital Limerick has been criticised over medication safety, with inspectors claiming that “the collective nature of the risks identified presented potential risks to patients”.

The inspection was conducted by the Health Information and Quality Authority (Hiqa) and found “inherent weaknesses in the existing medication safety systems and processes at the hospital”.

They included inadequate arrangements in place to identify, report, and manage risks associated with medication use, resulting in poor awareness and underreporting of medication errors and near misses.