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Care Homes

Care Home Resource Hub

This page hosts local and national resources to support care homes to deliver medicines optimisation.

Resources on this page will support care homes to implement the recommendations within NICE SC1 – Managing Medicines in Care Homes.  See baseline assessment tool which can be populated and used to assess current adherence and help to address any potential opportunities to improve care.

Click here to access the on-line reporting site for the Yellow Card Scheme, here you can report suspected side effects (also known as adverse drug reactions) to a medicine, vaccine, herbal or complementary remedy. The Yellow Card Scheme, run by the MHRA and the Commission on Human Medicines, is used to collect information from both health professionals and the general public on suspected side effects.

Ordering and receiving medicines

 End of Life (EOL) / Palliative care medication

  • Stock issues - If your local pharmacy does not have EOL medicines in stock these pharmacies have been commissioned to keep the following medicines in stock. See link for information on suggested flow of how to access end of life medicines in the community. 

  Accessing Subcutaneous fluid for your residents - review June 2022

  Nutrition in End of Life Care - Leaflet for carers - review November 2025

Storage

  • Expiry dates- review July 2027
  • Storage of medicines in hot weather – review June 2025
    • SPS - Which medicines could cause problems for patients during a heatwave

Medicines administration support (See SPS for more information /resources)

Disposal of medicines and waste reduction

General guidance/resources to support medicines optimisation

Controlled drugs

Condition specific resources;

  • Antipsychotics in people living with dementia (NICE KTT7)
    • A person living with dementia should only try an antipsychotic if they are at risk of harming themselves or others, or if they are severely distressed. The antipsychotic should be tried alongside other activities to try to help their distress.  Environmental and clinical causes to distress should be ruled out. Non-pharmacological support should be offered as initial and ongoing management and continued need for antipsychotic reviewed regularly. See link for other useful resources.
  • Dysphagia: This is a free learning resource designed to support knowledge and understanding of the management of dysphagia for health and social care workforce. The Health Education England e-LfH Dysphagia Guide is an e-learning resource made up of 5 e-learning sessions which cover the following topics:
    • Essentials
    • Training and Resources
    • Food 
    • Quality and Safety
    • Workforce
  • Influenza
    • Sheffield In-season Influenza outbreak protocol for care homes
    • Sheffield Out of season Influenza outbreak protocol for care homes

Also see the CCG medicines and prescribing page and shared care protocols pages for full list of local guidance.

Training and education

PrescQIPP are a Community Interest Company (a type of social enterprise) who operate on a not for profit basis for the benefit of NHS patients, commissioners and organisations. Sheffield CCG subscribes to PrescQIPP and commissions their care home training resource. This allows all Sheffield care home staff free access to their e-learning packages ‘Medicines Use in Care Homes’. The first and second of these are designed for care home staff involved in any aspect of medicines use; the third is for all care home staff involved in the administration of medicines. Each package takes 2 to 2.5 hours to complete but are designed to be completed in stages and not finished in one sitting.

In order to access the e-learning resources you need to be registered with PrescQIPP – sign up or log in here

Specialist pharmacy services (SPS) have developed a number of resources to support medicines optimisation in care homes, please filter by care home from left column. They also host other national resources and share ‘good practice’.

Medicines information - Advice and Support

Local pharmacy support

 National pharmacy support

  • SPS provide advice and support for Care home staff and residents, and the pharmacy teams supporting them.
  • The Care Quality Commission produce medicines information for care homes
  • The Royal Pharmaceutical Society have resources available to help pharmacy teams working with care homes. You need to be a member of the RPS to access these.

COVID-19 specific resources

NHSE/NHSI/DHSC - Coronavirus (COVID-19) - Re-use of medicines in a care home or hospice: This is a national SOP to support the re-use of medicines during the COVID-19 pandemic, in the event of a medicines shortage please contact the Medicines Optimisation Team if you are considering the re-use of medicines.

SPS - Care Homes: Clinical pharmacy

SPS have summarised the medicines guidance available from a variety of professional and national bodies across a range of clinical specialities. Care home guidance can be found by filtering by Care Setting under the Guidance tab.

Administration considerations during COVID

  • Moving from monitored dosage systems to original packs in care home - PrescQIPP

 

Last updated on 24/05/2023 by deborahmorris8