The letter provides information on work by the Academy of Medical Royal Colleges, Royal Pharmaceutical Society and Royal College of Nursing on improving the design of in-patient prescription charts used in hospitals. The department’s aim is to coordinate and stimulate various improvement areas in relation to safe use of medicines, including education and training and good practice guidance.

Guidelines have been published for those organisations and staff involved in the use of medicines to ensure that patients receive their medications safely and effectively. Individual organisations will need to decide on benchmarking their in-patient prescription charts against the recommendations and whether there is a need to improve the drug charts currently in use.