A HOSPITAL boss has defended the pharmacy service at the Royal Blackburn and Burnley General after a heart patient was forced to wait eight hours for a prescription.

As told in the Lancashire Telegraph letters page earlier this month, Waddington patient David Fletcher was ready to be discharged from the Royal Blackburn on the morning of December 7, but delays in obtaining his prescribed drugs meant he remained in the coronary care unit until the early evening.

Neil Fletcher, clinical director of pharmacy at East Lancashire Hospitals NHS Trust, said: “There is a process involving a number of clinical teams to ensure a patients’ medication is prescribed, authorised, dispensed and received appropriately.

“The care and safety of our patients is our main priority and on this occasion the process presented a slight delay because of the complexities of the patient’s current medication and a change in the medication he was being discharged with, which meant discussions with relevant clinicians had to take place to ensure the medication prescribed was correct.”