Hospital mistakes, but no harm done. Title edited by MNHQ at request of OP.

I’ve lost count of the number of times I’ve been given “what the Dr prescribed…” as an answer to me questioning something my DD is being given.

im privy to many many medical histories in the course of my work
it’s astounding how many people blindly trust and just take whatever they’ve been given without understanding or asking any questions about what it is or what it’s for

it’s really shocking - I wish I had a pound coin for every time I hear ‘umm don’t know what it’s called but it’s a white tablet’

anyway I hope you get it sorted out op

@IVbumble I disagree 🤷🏼‍♀️ I've known of a couple Pharmacists be struck off for that very thing

You should sit down and write down in as much detail as possible what has happened. Even if all is well keep your notes.
I have multiple health conditions and had breast cancer treatment a few years ago. Nothing has gone wrong but experience has taught me to keep detailed notes of every contact with health care professionals. Date, name, what was said.

OP cancer nurse here, you may have a different number of syringes this time if you have had weight changes, as this will affect dosing. In the kindest possible way, your nurse specialist (CNS) is the best person for you to contact. Asking the internet will do nothing to help with your anxiety.

At least read the updates.

My experience of this comes from my dog having chemo - it sounds like epirubicin and cycloshpamide? And that might be where the heart pill came in? CHOP? I know our dog had to get heart checks because epirubicin could damage the heart!

Our dog also was given a bag of fluids in error, instead of chemo, so if it can happen in a vets it can happen in a hospital!

I once used to have my meds mixed up with another’s. Same name and born on the same day, using the same pharmacy.

Nothing to add but just wanted to say that it sounds like things are difficult enough for you without adding this into the mix. I hope that you get sorted tomorrow and are well on the road to recovery very soon

Do you have quite a common name? It may be that chance in a god knows how many million that you share the same name and DOB as someone else also undergoing treatment. It’s a huge long shot to have the same DOB but would explain the mix up. Glad to hear the consultant put your mind at rest and hope everything is sorted out for you tomorrow. Hope you get well soon.

As crazy as this sounds, I have two separate family members who nearly received the wrong diagnosis (in one case) and treatment (in the other) due to other patients having the same, quite common, names. In one scenario the date of birth happened to be the same, in the other it was different. Both times it was another accompanying family member that caught the issue, not the patient themselves or medical staff.

I’ve had banks mix up my adult kids due to same surname, address and date of birth (different first initial) so I can well believe that hospitals don’t always check as precisely as they should.

I am sorry you are having to deal with this mix-up. I was in A&E the other week with a heart rhythm problem and the doc was looking at my notes on the computer and could not find my echocardiogram - he said "I can see your knee x-ray." I have never had a knee x-ray in my life. Hmmm.

Errors do creep in sometimes, and I hope very much that you are feeling satisfied that things are now being sorted.

I worry that I now receive my meds in a plastic dispenser from the pharmacy. I once knew exactly what I had prescribed and what each was for but now have lost track as they are mixed up together and it’s fiddly trying to match the pills up with the handwritten attached notes and the pill descriptions aren’t always clear. No indication given as to why they’re prescribed either and the appearance randomly changes when the pharmacy changes the make.

When I was very newly qualified I made a medication error, I was in the clinic with multiple people at the door wanting meds /asking questions/ shouting and gave a patient medication A rather than B. Both had very similar names (a couple of letters different) and were in near identical bottles and A had been put in the trolley in the spot where B usually was.

It was completely my responsibility though. I apologised immediately, made sure the patient got checked by a doctor (they were fine but did tease me about it every meds round after) and I did some additional training and reflection. The ward looked at ways we could improve processes such as having an HCA on hand to prevent multiple people being at the door and how we organised the trolley. Everyone learnt from it. It didn't end my career. Which is how it should work.

I've also been supplied with a completely random person's medication by pharmacy before instead of my own. Again it was fine, I returned it, they followed their incident procedures.

These things do happen. I'm glad you are feeling reassured OP. Hope all goes well tomorrow and you get some answers.

That sounds really worrying. Especially that what's recorded does not match reality. I was given the wrong dose of IV steroids once as an inpatient (too low rather than too high, thankfully, but it did turn a 5 day stay into 14) Mistakes do happen, so it's not outside the realms of probability. But the insistence that they were right and you must be mistaken, when you have the evidence in your hand, would really get my back up.

A thought - it is possible there's someone with the same DOB and name as you, does the label on the heart meds have your nhs / hospital number on? I don't know how the system works, but if they're saying the tank home prescription on your record is correct, you'd think that they wouldn't have been able to print the heart meds label without it being recorded on your record. I wonder if they've had a load of stuff labeled up for 2 different Jane Smiths and that one has gone in the wrong bag?

Your wrist band would have your hosp number on it though, and I've always had that checked against the prescription before being administered meds in hospital, so can't see how that part could have gone wrong and been recorded as correct, unless they didn't actually check it and we're just on autopilot/going through the motions.

Crikey OP, this sounds very unnerving! I hope you get to the bottom of it!

Sometimes seemingly impossible scenarios do actually happen. I'm not going to bore you with the details, but we took our 6-day-old DS to A&E. He was examined by a nurse and admitted to the ward. He was then examined by two doctors and at that point I noticed the name on his ankle tags was wrong. Same DoB, same first name, similar but different foreign last name. Slipped through all the checks (including the computerised ones) that are meant to prevent this. The doctor was absolutely horrified when I told her. So things can go wrong, even if there are checks in place to prevent it and even if the chances are one in a million.

All the best for your treatment

OP PHOTOGRAPH the medication and appointment card you have. If they take it from you then you will have no evidence. You want evidence on your phone as a photo

Aren’t you a peach. Merely suggesting that the OP’s CNS is the best point of contact for any queries, rather than MN where everyone screams PALs for everything. HTH

You need to call the cancer unit and advise that today you were given a different protocol in clinic, different appointments and sent home with the imcorrect medication. Advise you queried everything at the time and were dismissed but when you rang back it was confirmed you’ve been sent home with the wrong medication and so you are even more concerned about everything that went on today. Tell them it needs to be checked, confirmed and a call back. Request copies of todays notes.

And contact PALS

Take photos of the appts/wrong meds.

I am so glad you were able to speak to someone reasonable, after all the pushback on the appointments. Glad also you have photographed the evidence. Hope all goes well, with clarification and apologies from those concernced.

If they mixed you up with someone else your record could be 'correct' but not reflective of what you received. I think you need to go back to the place where you had the treatment and demand that they check who else had an appointment at the same time as you and who should have had a 5 then 3 syringe treatment. That person probably got the 4 then 4 and has probably been told to turn up when you have your next appointment. What a mess. Someone needs to deal with this sharply and get to the bottom of it.

Glad you spoke to a dr OP and put your mind at rest.

This is a useful reminder that in any job done by humans mistakes happen because you know people are human.

My friend had an incident where she was prescribed a serious sort of drug (very much not low level antibiotics) of a particular amount say 10mg. It was dispensed by the pharmacist and the printed out label said 10mg on it but the box it was stuck on was (say) 5mg. And they looked really similar there was very little difference at all between the different dose boxes. She was very lucky she spotted it in time.

If you have a bad vibe in any situation like that, just raise it there and then and don't feel embarrassed. It's better it's checked and double checked than a person gets medication not meant for them and in fact doesn't get what they should be having.

Far out. Well done for realising and bringing it up. Added stress which I’m sure you definitely don’t need right now.
Big hug to you & keep fighting the fight ♥️