Introduction In 2006 the charity Parkinson's UK launched the ‘Get it on Time’ campaign, to ensure that Parkinson's disease patients were given their appropriate medications whilst in hospital in a timely manner. We set out to audit the prescription and administration of PD meds in a 6 month period.

Objectives To identify delays or omissions in the prescription and administration of PD medicines, and identify the prescription of contraindicated medicines.

Methods A sample of inpatient episodes for PD patients were taken for the period 1 February to 1 August 2011 in one south east England DGH. Omissions and delays of medications, and the related reasons were recorded in accordance with Parkinson's UK audit guidelines.

Results 48 patient episodes for 44 patients (17 female, 27 male) were audited. The average patient age was 77, and average length of stay was 15 days.

21 patients (43%) experienced a delay in their first dose whilst in hospital. 12 patients (25%) experienced further delays. 156 omitted doses were identified, equivalent to one dose missed for every five patient-days in hospital. 25% of these omissions were deemed to be unjustified or unexplained.

Conclusions This audit demonstrated significant shortcomings in the administration of medications, both at the time of admission, and throughout the inpatient stay. A large proportion of omissions were for correctible causes such as the drugs not being available.

Further doctor, nurse and pharmacist education will be carried out to ameliorate the problem, and a further audit cycle is to be undertaken.