Safe Handling of Medication Unit 2

The Medicines Acts 1968 and various amendments cover the legal management of medication. While care staff are not expected to have detailed knowledge of the legislation, they do need to be aware of the legal difference between types of drugs and the legal framework that allows them to handle medicines on behalf of the service user.

In order to ensure the continuity of care when a service user is being transferred to another setting it is important that their medication is sent with them. The new care service may not have the necessary medication available to them so by sending the medication with the service user, you are ensuring that they receive the correct medication at the correct time. It is just as important that a copy of theMAR sheet is also sent with the person, as this will inform

Roles and responsibilities of the person dispensing the medication is to check to make sure the prescription is legal and signed by a qualified person, ensure there are no errors, to dispense the right quantity and dose of medication, make sure the medication is clearly labelled with the instructions of the dose, the name of the medication and person, provide advice and treatment for any minor illnesses and health concerns. Pharmacies will also provide a repeat prescription service.

1. The main legislation that governs the use of medication is The Medicines Acts 1968. The following is a list of legislations that have a direct impact upon the handling of medication within a social care setting.

The person dispensing must also be appropriately trained, follow safe systems of work and understand the side effects of various drugs; be able to access appropriate information and understand when to access advice or further information

* There must be a policy at work place for the receipt, recording, storage, handling, administration and disposal of medicines.

This booklet will be explaining how Acts and regulations are applied to prescribing, dispensing, administering, storage and disposal of medication in care homes.

Assisting – At the request of the service user, opening bottles and packets; removing lids; popping pills out of packages when the service user cannot physically do this and has asked the care worker to help with that specific medicine; shaking bottles.

M1 – discuss organisational policies and procedures are by influenced legislation and guidelines with regard to the administration of medication

Insures all tablets are placed together safely for the service user to access, in line with the carers no contact method. Also facilitates and promote independent administering.

There are several legislations in place with protocols for the administration of medication which I have listed below. The main policy re admin of drugs and storing of drugs and medicines is the Control Of Substances Hazardous to Health or COSHH but along with this there are other policies in place as per the list below.

I also work closely with local pharmacies and doctors around the changing of a person’s medication. It’s important that we work closely together to ensure that the service user is having the correct medication at all times.

This is medication that is taken via the mouth. This can be in the form of tablets and capsules. If an individual finds it difficult to swallow tablets oral medication is also available in liquids, suspensions and syrups. Sublingual medications are for example when tablets are placed under the tongue to dissolve quickly.

The nurse must verify the physician’s medication order, including the dose and time, and then the pharmacy is responsible for their own checks and balances via the BCMA system in order to complete the dispensing phase of the medication (Gooder, 2011). The nurse enters the BCMA system with a login and password and is able then to see a list of the virtual due list for a specific patient. The computer on wheels is then taken to that patient’s room and the five rights of medication administration begin. As nurses, we are taught to use the five rights of drug administration are (1) right patient (2) right medication (3) right dose (4) right route and (5) right time. By scanning the barcode on the patient’s hospital identification band, the nurse then asks for the patient to verbally state their name and date of birth, which can be verified by the nurse on the virtual due list and then choses the medication that are due for administration at that time. The medication is dispensed and the nurse is able to scan the barcode on the medication, the scanning triggers the automatic documentation of the medication given (Kelly, 2012).

There are other pharmacy staff who also have roles in relation to the safe dispensing of medicines. A pharmacist is responsible for: Overall checking of a prescription to make sure that it is legal and written by a person qualified to do so, dispensing the right quantity of the correct medicine, ensuring that medicines are correctly labelled with the person’s name, the name of the medicine and the dosage, providing advice and treatment for minor illnesses, injuries and health concerns, providing a repeat prescription service in co-operation with GP