Medication Support

Levels of support

Each client's support plan states exactly which level of medication support they receive. You must never go beyond the level in the plan, however sensible it feels in the moment.

• Prompting — reminding a person to take medication they manage themselves. You do not handle the medication.
• Assisting — practical help at the person's request and direction: opening bottles, popping blisters, steadying a hand. The person stays in charge.
• Administering — selecting and giving the medication because the person cannot direct it themselves. Only staff with completed medication training and an observed competency check may administer.

Golden rules

• The six rights: right person, right medicine, right dose, right route, right time, right to refuse.
• Record every administration or assistance on the MAR record at the time — never before, never from memory later.
• A refusal is the person's right. Record it, don't hide medication in food or drink — covert administration is lawful only with a documented Adults with Incapacity (Scotland) Act 2000 assessment and pharmacist involvement, all arranged by management in the support plan.
• Never give medication belonging to anyone else, anything not on the MAR, or 'homely remedies' unless the plan authorises them.

Errors and near misses

• If a dose is missed, wrong, or dropped: make the person safe, call NHS 24 on 111 (or 999 if they are unwell) for advice, then call your manager — all before the end of the visit.
• Record what happened honestly. We operate a fair, learning culture: an admitted error is a learning event; a concealed error is a disciplinary matter.