Level 2 Certificate in Understanding the Safe Handling of Medicines

Contents
Introduction
How to use this guidance
Chapter 1: Principles of safe and appropriate handling of medicines
Chapter 2: Handling medicines in social care settings
• Controlled drugs
• Disposing of medicines
• Medicine administration
• Minor ailments
• Record-keeping
• Storage of medicines
• Self-administration of medicine
• Staff training
Chapter 3: Handling medicines — requirements for specific services
• Adult placement
• Boarding schools, school care accommodation, special residential schools
• Care at home, domiciliary care
• Child care, early education
• Children’s home, secure accommodation, short break and respite services
• Day care
• Drug and alcohol rehabilitation
• Foster care
• Housing support, supported living
• Palliative care
• Residential care for adults, residential care for older people, short break and respite services
• Residential family centre
Chapter 4: The medicines toolkit
Choice and consent
Obtaining supplies of medicines
• Repeat prescriptions
• Obtaining acute prescriptions
• NHS prescription forms
• Changing pharmacy supplier
• Verbal orders
Administration of medicines
• Procedures for giving medicines
• Giving medicines to people who cannot swallow or need to have their medicines given
via their feeding tube
• Covert administration of medicines
• Monitored dosage systems and compliance aids
Storage of medicines
• Controlled drugs in care homes
• Refrigerated storage
Record-keeping
• Medicine Administration Record (MAR) charts
Transfer of medicines when people move to another health or social care setting
• Transferring to another setting
• Returning from hospital stays
Legislation and guidance
Key references/bibliography
Glossary
Acknowledgements
The Handling of Medicines in Social Care

3

Introduction
Today’s medicines are powerful compounds that control disease, ease discomfort and prolong
life for millions of people and are generally beneficial. Unfortunately no...