What medicines support and administration mean

Medicines support covers any help that enables a person to manage their medicines. It ranges from light-touch reminders to direct administration by trained staff.

In adult social care this can include prompting, helping with packaging, reading labels, applying a cream, supporting inhaler use, giving a tablet or liquid, recording a dose, ordering and receiving supplies, storing medicines safely, checking fridge temperatures and arranging disposal. The specific tasks must be agreed with the person and recorded in their care plan.

Support is not all the same

• Prompting: reminding a person that it is time for their medicine, while they stay responsible for taking it.
• Assistance: practical help such as opening a bottle, removing a tablet from a blister or reading a label, when this is agreed in the plan.
• Administration: giving or applying the medicine, or directly supervising the dose, as part of a trained role.
• Ordering and supply: checking what is needed, ordering in time, receiving medicines and resolving discrepancies.
• Monitoring and escalation: recognising refusals, side effects, missing medicines, swallowing or patch problems, deterioration or possible errors and acting on them.

NICE NG67 defines medicines support as help that enables a person to manage their medicines and advises that providers should not take responsibility for medicines unless an assessment shows this is needed and agreed. This is particularly important in supported living and homecare, where independence and choice must be protected.

Assessment and care planning

Medicines support starts with the person's assessed need. Do not assume every resident needs the same level of help or that staff should take over tasks the person can do safely.