“The Patient’s Medicines Bag is a powerful example of a simple idea being developed to bring significant improvements for both staff and patients alike.”

The Patient’s Medicines Bag:

An award winning product proven to reduce healthcare costs and improve patient safety

The Patient’s Medicines bag is a durable polythene bag in which a patient places all their medication before going to hospital or visiting their GP. The bag allows healthcare professionals to find out quickly and easily what medications a patient is taking. The bag also encourages patients to keep their medications together in the home – helping them manage their medicines more effectively and providing medical staff with vital information in the event of an emergency. Used by over 40 healthcare trusts across England and Wales, the benefits of the Patient’s Medicines Bag include:

• Saved costs - proven to provide real financial savings. (The Patient’s Medicines Bag created savings of £7.40 per patient in reduced repeat dispensing when trialled at the Nottingham University Hospital NHS Trust).
• Saved time - reduces delays in patient discharges.
• Improved patient safety - reduces drug-related errors.
• Better information - increases the number of complete and recorded drug histories.
• Clearer communication - increases communication of medication changes to GPs on discharge and medication changes to patients on discharge.

Empowering patients – supporting healthcare professionals

The Patient’s Medicines Bag has received consistently positive feedback both from patients and medical and healthcare professionals.

• Is suitable for all types of admissions.
• Combines with laminated instructions for ambulance and ward staff to encourage patients to take their current medications with them if they are admitted to hospital..
• Features an area with a textured writing surface to allow staff to add a patient’s allergies or side effects details.
• Features message cards developed for ambulance teams translated into 10 languages, including Arabic, Urdu and Chinese.

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Available to order now

The Patient’s Medicines Bag is available to order online in multiples of 250. It can be branded with the logo of a Trust and is delivered within three weeks of order. The Patient’s Medicines Bag is 100% environmentally friendly and 100% British. It is manufactured by CFN Packaging, in Skegness, Lincolnshire using Biothene, a degradable polythene which breaks down harmlessly in the environment in 12 to 18 months.