Who is allowed to give seniors medication in a care home?

Care assistants and registered nurses are in charge of this task. However, they have to be thoroughly trained and qualified. A registered nurse working in a care home has the leading role of managing and administering medicines. Care assistants are held accountable for providing the correct dose of medication according to each resident’s prescription.

Nurses are allowed to administer medications according to the relevant state or territory legislation and policies.
Service providers must have policies that identify those drugs the service provider does not authorize staff to administer. As part of their role, registered nurses must understand the therapeutic action of medicines, including the purpose for their use and the effects of use.
Registered nurses use clinical judgement to evaluate if medications should be administered or withheld given a consumer’s clinical status. The registered nurse must ask the prescriber if a dose is not taken for anything other than predetermined or prescribed reasons. They also have a part in educating carers about the safe and proper administration of medicines. In addition, registered nurses must use the following professional standards to administer medication: the right prescription must be issued to the right person in the correct dose at the right time via the right route.

Care homes are under the observation of the Care Quality Commission; the CQC closely monitors any involvement in administering medication and the process of reporting and recording them. Since most elderly patients are vulnerable and suffer from dementia, care assistants are legally qualified to administer medications. However, all of them must be carefully trained and competent, and also they should follow the care home’s policies and rules.