Medication Handling Report: Legislation, Roles, and Administration

This report provides a comprehensive overview of medication handling within social care settings. It begins by outlining the relevant legislation, including the Medicines Act 1968, Health Act 2006, Controlled Drugs Regulations 2013, and Misuse of Drugs Act 2001, emphasizing the importance of adhering to these regulations for patient safety and effective treatment. The report then details the roles and responsibilities of various healthcare professionals, such as nurses, registered managers, pharmacists, and health and social care workers, highlighting their specific duties in medication management. It further explores methods for assessing an individual's medication information, including the use of Medication Administration Record (MAR) sheets, care plans, and medical records, alongside a description of various medication administration routes like ingestion, inhalation, injection, infusion, and topical installation. The report also covers different forms of medication (solid, liquid, gas, topical) and the equipment used in the administration process, such as spacer devices, oral syringes, and nebulizers. The importance of accurate data recording, including MAR sheets, care records, and controlled drug books, is emphasized. Finally, the report addresses the safe storage of medications, referencing COSHH regulations and storage requirements, as well as the proper disposal of unwanted medication to prevent misuse and ensure safety.

INTRODUCTION
In order to provide effective and quality care to care seekers, it is important for the
management to promote health and hygienic habits in the health care centre (Harris and White,
2018). In contrast with this statement, the following report will demonstrate the current
legislations and policies that regulate handling of medication in social care setting. Roles and
responsibilities of people who are involved in providing health care facilities to service users will
be described in the report. The information about assessing individual medication will be
identified and different forms of medication provided to patients will be explained as well.
Eventually, safe storage of different medication and disposal of unwanted medication will be
assessed in the assignment.
LO 1
P1 Legislation governing medication
In order to provide precise treatment and care to patient it is essential for the management
of health care organisation to follow the legislation that governs their policies. The current
legislation that must be followed by health care centre is described below: Medicine Act 1968: Medicine Act 1968 was passed by British Parliament which
mandates the control of medicines which are manufactured for the use of human and
veterinary purpose (Turner and Clegg, 2014). Health Act 2006: The act was passed in order to mandates certain administration
practices which enhance health and safety in the health and social care centre. Chapter 1
of the act mandates no smoking in the premises and Chapter 2 states the sale of tobacco. The Controlled Drugs Regulations 2013: The act was passed in the parliament of United
Kingdom mandates the use of drugs which are made for human use. It prevents misuse of
drugs (Brooker and et..al., 2016).
 The Misuse of Drugs Act 2001: In 2001, the Misuse of Drug Act was passed in order to
monitor the supply of illegal drugs used for legitimate purpose. It prevents misuse of
illegal drugs and promotes safety within the health care centre.
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LO 2
P2. Care provider’s roles and responsibilities
In the health and social care centre, care workers, practitioners, managers, nurses and
pharmacist play a crucial and essential role. Each party has been assigned with specific role
within their jurisdiction and they have to fulfil it effectively and efficiently. The roles and
responsibilities of the care providers are described as below: Nurse: Nurses in the health care centre are responsible for addressing the patient or
service users appropriately (Booth, Prevost and Gulliford, 2015). They are further
accountable for checking patient’s status, maintaining report and providing them precise
and prescribed medication. Registered Manager: The role of manager is to monitor and supervise each and every
worker engaged in organisation. He or she is responsible for administrating, managing
and controlling the activities conducted in health care centre so that customers or service
can have better experience. Pharmacist: The role of pharmacist is to assist in chronic disease and providing precise
medicine for the specific disease (Sharma, Nazareth and Petersen, 2016). Pharmacist in
health and social care plays a crucial role and they have responsibility to prescribe
appropriate medication to the service user in order to reduce the issues and problems.
 Health and social care workers: Health and social care workers are responsible for
delivering services to the care users. They play a vital role in assisting health care
professionals, nurses and managers. They are further responsible for providing home care
to the users.
LO 3
P3. Assessing medical information of an individual
Health care professionals and practitioners can assess the medication information of the
health care users by using various methods and sources which are described below: Medication Administration Record Sheet (MAR): The record sheet helps in providing
detailed information about the medical records of the service users (Morant, Kaminskiy
and Ramon, 2016). With the help this sheet, health care professionals easily assess what
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kind of medication is provided to service users. It serves as a legal report which assists
health care professionals greatly. Care Plan: Care plan is usually prepared by the registered nurses where they record
types or kinds of medicines provided to service users (Young-Hyman, and et..al, 2016).
This plan helps health care professionals to make decisions regarding the type of
treatment to be provided to service users.
 Medical Records: Medical records show the past medical information of service users.
These are prepared by health care professionals in order to reduce the efforts and other
health care professionals can assess the past medication provided to patient.
P4. Medication administering routes
Medication can be administered to following routes which are described below: Ingestion (Oral): Ingestion route of medication is where substance is taken through
mouth. It is also known as oral form of medication (Partridge, and et..al., 2015). These
types of medicines are usually given where individuals suffered from ache and other
chronic or mild diseases. Inhalation: Taking medication through inhaling which directly affects the lungs and
respiratory system is inhalation. These drugs are for improving the respiratory condition
by means of nebulizers or aerosols Injection: Injecting medicine or solution of drugs through syringe is the process of
injection. There are two types of injection medication which are intradermal and
subcutaneous (Punekar, Shukla and Müllerova, 2014). Intradermal injection administers
into dermis and a subcutaneous injection is administered as a bolus into the subcutis. Infusion: The medication which is taken with some fluids is known as infusion.
 Topical Installation: The medications which are applied through massage or drops are
topical installation. For example” eye, ear, nose drops, massage ointment.
P5. Different forms of medication
There are numerous forms of medications which are provided to the service users
according to their issues and needs. These are described as below: Solid: The medication which is in solid state such as tablets, capsules, pessaries, etc. are
solid form of medicines.
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 Liquid: Medicines which are taken either by fluid or directly as well as that are in in
liquid state such as syrups, etc. are known as liquid form of medication. Gas: Medicines which are taken from nebulisers, air and passes through respiratory
system and are of gas state are known as gas form of medicines (Stubbs and et..al .,
2014). Topical: These are massage creams or drops which are provided for specific areas such
as nose, eyes and ears as well as back of body.
 Brand and Generic Name: Medicines manufactured under brand name are costly but
more effective than the generic medicines. It depends upon the health care professionals
that which type of medicine he or she prescribe for the service user.
P6 Equipment used for administration process
In health and social care centre, health care professionals uses different types of
equipment while providing care services to the service users. The different types of equipment
used for administration process is described below: Spacer Devices: To treat asthma spacer devices are used by medics. It is used to enhance
the ease of administering aerosolised medication from metered dose inhaler. Oral Syringes: Oral syringes are used by the medics in order to determine the amount of
liquid medicines which given to patients and generally have units in millilitres (Becerra
and et..al., 2015.).
 Nebulisers: In medicine, a nebulizer or nebuliser (see spelling differences) is a drug
delivery device used to administer medication in the form of a mist inhaled into the lungs.
LO 4
P7 Data must be recorded for use of medications
The data that can be recorded for use of medication is described below: MAR Sheets: MAR sheets refer to Medical Administration Record Sheets which are used
by the health care professionals to record the data about the medicines and treatment
provided to the individual (Harris and White, 2018). Care Records: Care records are care plan prepared by nurses where they record the time
in which medicine has been given, type of treatment and care needed by individual.
 Controlled Drug Book: It is the register which is maintained by pharmacists where he or
she record dosage of medicines provided to the health care seeker.
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LO 5
P8 Safe storage of medicines
To restrict the misuse of medicines, it is important for the management of health care
centre to store the medicines in appropriate place where only health care professionals and nurses
can have access. COSHH: Control of Substance hazardous to health regulation mandates that health care
centre must store medicines out of reach from individuals and must be disposed off safely
(Turner and Clegg, 2014). Locker: It must be kept in the locker where only permitted authorities can enter. It is the
duty and responsibility of manager of health care centre to store the medicines in locker
of the centre.
 Heat regulated: Medicines must be in original packing and must be store where the room
temperature is below 25 degree Celsius (Brooker and et..al., 2016).
P9 Disposal of Unwanted medication
In order to eliminate any uncertainty and to prevent risk, it is important for the
management of health and social care centre to dispose harmful and hazardous medicines in
precise and appropriate manner (Booth, Prevost and Gulliford, 2015). It is important for them to
follow the health and safety regulations mandates by government of United Kingdom. The
regulation mandates that harmful medicines must be disposed in the area where there is no
vicinity and out from the reach of any individual.
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