A HOSPITAL has admitted wrongly prescribing heroin substitute methadone to a patient on an alcohol withdrawal drug.

The mistake by a junior doctor at Burnley General Hospital, working under consultant Dr Ian Blake, was only noticed when Beryl Dwyer handed her prescription to the hospital pharmacist.

Today health watchdog Frank Clifford slammed the mistake as "careless and showing a lack of care and attention to the patient" and called for the Trust to send a full written apology to Mrs Dwyer and reassurance that this will never happen again.

Mrs Dwyer, 43, of Exchange Street, Colne, has been on courses of heminevrin, a hypnotic sleep drug used for alcohol withdrawal, for 13 years.

She said: "The pharmacist knew me and told me what was written on the prescription and said you don't usually take this. I was shocked. I told him I had never taken anything like that in my life and was not about to start. "I was quite worried. With the drugs that I am on, if I had been feeling really down I could have accidentally taken it. Mistakes like this should not happen.

"If I had not known what the drugs I am prescribed look like I might have accepted the prescription and taken it."

Mrs Dwyer has informed Pendle MP Gordon Prentice who has contacted the hospital to find out exactly what happened.

Alan Ravenscroft, director of nursing services and assistant service manager for mental health, said: "There was no risk to the patient because of what had been written. It was a genuine error.

"The prescription could only be dispensed internally at the hospital pharmacy and they picked up straight away that it was not right.

"Methadone is a controlled drug and prescriptions must contain specific instructions where as heminevrin is a scheduled drug. "There is no way this prescription would have got through and the drugs been dispensed."

But Coun Clifford, chairman of Burnley, Pendle and Rossendale Community Health Council said: "Had the member of staff not been familiar with the patient they might not have questioned the prescription.

"There is a level of trust between doctor and patient and patients need to feel confident that the doctor is prescribing the right course of treatment for their needs.

"This patient has a history with the hospital and if the doctor had looked at her notes I do not believe he could possibly have made this mistake. It is careless and shows a lack of care and attention to the patient.

"It is as if the prescription was written without giving the proper time and care to the patient.

"It is wrong for this matter to be disregarded it is far more important than that."

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