Time to review how injectable medicines are prepared and administered in European hospitals.

It has been known, for decades, that the use of injectable medicines in European hospitals has been associated with frequent medication errors, some of which cause preventable severe harms and deaths. There  have been national and European inquiries and reports concerning  improving patient safety by recommending greater use of pharmacy  aseptic preparation services and provision of ready-to administer  injectables, which have not been widely implemented.In England experience of treating patients with COVID-19 infections has  brought into focus other benefits of significantly extending pharmacy aseptic preparation services. These benefits include saving  nursing time, having systems in place which have resilience and capacity,  reducing variation in practice, improving clinical staff and patient  experience, and enabling more injectable medicines to be administered to  patients at home. It has also been recognised that more action is required  to standardise policies and procedures for injectable medicines and  mplement the use of smart infusion devices with dose error reduction  software, to help minimise drug administration errors.Hospital pharmacists have a key role in developing these services to bring  European hospitals more in line with those provided by hospital pharmacies in North America.