Gosport dad's anger as baby given out-of-date medicine

Pete Rigden took his five-month-old Charlie to Queen Alexandra Hospital in Cosham, after he fell ill with a viral rash, bronchitis and hypotonia – a muscle problem.

After diagnosing Charlie, Mr Rigden and the youngster’s mum Tina Largan were given a prescription by a nurse.

They took the prescription to the on-site pharmacy and were given Gaviscon Infant.

But two weeks later when Mr Rigden, from Gosport, went to renew the prescription he realised the medicine went out of date on August 1, 2016.

He had already given Charlie 26 sachets, as advised by the nurse.

Mr Rigden said: ‘We were so angry. If it had been serious medication Charlie could have been really ill.

‘I have no idea how they allowed this to happen when the prescription was checked by the pharmacist.

‘When I rang the doctor to re-ew the prescription and realised the date, he said under no circumstances should Charlie have taken it.

‘We didn’t think to check the date because that’s the pharmacist’s job.

‘It just shows a complete lack of care.’

Mr Rigden has written an official complaint to Portsmouth Hospitals NHS Trust, which runs QA Hospital, and is awaiting a response.

He added: ‘I was expecting a response back by now but we haven’t received anything.

‘I just want the hospital to acknowledge their mistake and apologise.

‘Apparently it is quite a common prescription so how was an out-of-date batch allowed to be given out?

‘Hopefully this mistake will encourage parents to double-check all prescriptions.’

Mr Rigden said as well as complaining to the hospital, he has written to health secretary Jeremy Hunt and is seeking legal advice.

A trust spokeswoman said: ‘Portsmouth Hospitals NHS Trust cannot comment on individuals due to patient confidentiality.

‘Patient safety, dignity and the quality of care is the 
highest priority of Portsmouth Hospitals NHS Trust and any patient feedback about the care they receive is treated very seriously.

‘Any formal complaint to the trust’s patient and customer services team is fully investigated in line with our trust policy.’