A General Medical Council review has found that GPs make too many mistakes while prescribing medicines. The findings were based on the study of as many as 1,200 patients. The review further revealed that one in six patients is prescribed wrong medicine.

The elderly and children are said to be most affected with the errors being made by GPs while prescribing medicine. However, it has been found that generally, mistakes are not of serious nature and pharmacists often correct those mistakes before giving medicines to patients.

Lead researcher Professor Tony Avery said that though mistakes are minor, it should be made sure that there should be no mistake while prescribing medicines. In order to do that GPS consultation time should be increased from
10 minutes to 15minutes. So that GPs are able to diagnose the problem properly and there is no mistake while recommending the medicine for the same.

Some of the common errors found by the official regulators were incomplete information of patient and his problem on medical slip, no proper data mentioned on the slip and wrong timing of doses to be given on the day.

Health Secretary Andrew Lansley said that they have come across the matter. The government is working with GPs and is trying to sort out the problem.

In order to reach at the conclusion, the official regulators said that they carried out investigation at 15 general practices in three different areas of England. In total, 1,777 patients were involved in the study and average time was taken 12 months.

Dr. Clare Gerada, who chairs the Royal College of General Practitioners, said, "There are over one million patient consultations in general practice every day across the UK, and this report demonstrates that in 95% of cases GPs prescribe safely and effectively in the best interests of their patients".