NHS patients in uproar over ‘incompetent’ drug delivery service
This story shows just how vulnerable those with health challenges in rural areas are – whilst it is about all those needing drugs deliveries the challenges of overcoming failure are more acute for those in sparse environments. It tells us:
One of Britain’s leading home healthcare providers has been deluged by complaints at its failure to deliver vital medication to patients on time amid wider concerns about the commercial home delivery of medicines.
As part of its services, Healthcare at Home delivers drugs to the home for conditions such as rheumatoid arthritis, cystic fibrosis, and HIV.
The delivery problems emerged after Healthcare at Home moved in March from an in-house delivery service to using an outside company, Movianto, a big logistics firm operating in Europe with its headquarters in Richmond, Virginia, in the US. It said the move would improve the service, but some of Movianto’s IT systems failed despite extensive testing, said Healthcare at Home.
The delivery company, which makes 4,000 “drops” a day, said the IT glitch meant Movianto “did not have full visibility over their delivery schedules”, leading to a surge of calls from 3,000 up to 9,000 a day from patients requesting delivery time updates, which have continued for longer than expected.
Hundreds of irate patients have bombarded the NHS Choices website in recent months with emails venting their fury at Healthcare at Home.