Don’t forget your green bag
A campaign to encourage patients to keep their medicines in a green bag has been relaunched after a successful start.
Any patient who is treated at the trust can ask to be given a green bag where their personal medicine can be kept.
Once discharged, if the patient ever has to return to hospital they can take their green bag with them – meaning staff will know what medicines they are taking.
Associate chief pharmacist Paul Harris said: “The campaign first started a few years ago and it was very successful.
“We want as many patients as possible to use these green bags because it has a number of benefits to them.
“This campaign is not just about encouraging patients to use these green bags – it is also about ensuring staff in our hospitals offer this service to patients.”
A patients who brings their green bag into hospital or asks for a new one can:
- carry on taking their own medicines as normal
- ensure all necessary medicines are prescribed on admission
- ensure medicines are given at the right dose and time
- means any new medication can be taken safely
- expect the provision of medicines at discharge to be faster and more efficient