When the acting provincial auditor filed her report with the legislature last week, there was one note within it that singled out the Sun Country Health Region as having a weakness in medication management at the Weyburn and Estevan hospitals.
The issue was reported in the Dec. 11 issue of the Mercury.
That weakness is now being addressed and did not cause extra concerns for Sun Country CEO Marga Cugnet, as long as the concerns were being looked into and corrected.
"The auditors pick certain sectors to take a detailed look into each year and pharmacy was it this year," said Cugnet. "Overall, pharmaceutical management is pretty good. There are balances and checks in place, but they were not always being followed in our two hospitals."
Cugnet added the pharmacies at Weyburn General and St. Joseph's in Estevan are open from Monday through Friday during general business hours, but pharmacists remain on call on weekends in case their advice is needed.
"We also have communications with all the local retail pharmacies in the event the hospitals run out of a certain medication. It's quite rare when we can't get something we need. There is great value in having the pharmacists available for consultations," Cugnet said.
"But I did not find the auditor's criticism disturbing at all, but we know there is room for improvement."
The acting auditor, Judy Ferguson, noted the two hospitals in question had effective processes for managing medications except for the fact that the policies were not always followed for after-hours access and medication disposal, and the region needed to address issues related to medication errors.
Cugnet said that this could entail having the pharmacists revisit the policies already in place. She speculated that one or two pharmacists may have missed a policy information session, so it might just be a matter of going back to get the person updated on what the expectations are.
She explained that when drugs are accessed after hours, there is a requirement for the pharmacist on duty the next day to do a follow-up to ensure the right medications and proper doses were used. That would address the major concern raised by Ferguson in her report.
