Quality standard
Quality statement 1: Record-keeping
Quality statement 1: Record-keeping
Quality statement
People who transfer into a care home have their medicines listed by the care home on the day that they transfer.
Rationale
It is important that information about medicines is available for people who transfer into a care home, either for the first time or, for example, when moving back into the care home after a hospital stay (during which their medicines may have been changed). This will allow information about a person's medicines to be available to relevant health and social care practitioners (while taking care to respect confidentiality), improving continuity of care and ensuring that people get the right medicines at the right time at the care home they have transferred to.
Quality measures
The following measures can be used to assess the quality of care or service provision specified in the statement. They are examples of how the statement can be measured, and can be adapted and used flexibly.
Structure
Evidence of local arrangements to ensure that a list is made of a person's medicines on the day that they transfer into a care home.
Data source: Local data collection.
Process
Proportion of transfers of people into a care home where a list of the person's medicines is made by the care home on the day of transfer.
Numerator – the number in the denominator where a list of the person's medicines is made by the care home on the day of transfer.
Denominator – the number of transfers of people into a care home.
Data source: Local data collection.
Outcome
Time between a person moving into a care home and completion of a list of their medicines.
Data source: Local data collection.
What the quality statement means for different audiences
Service providers (care homes) ensure that they make arrangements to produce a list of a person's medicines on the day that they transfer into a care home.
Health and social care practitioners ensure that they coordinate the listing of a person's medicines on the day that they transfer into a care home.
Commissioners ensure that they commission services that make arrangements to produce a list of a person's medicines on the day that they transfer into a care home.
People who move into a care home (either for the first time or moving back after a hospital stay) have their medicines carefully recorded by the care home on the day that they move.
Source guidance
Managing medicines in care homes. NICE guideline SC1 (2014), recommendations 1.7.1 and 1.7.3