Use and opinions of care home medicines audit tools
Research type
Research Study
Full title
Use and opinions' concerning medicines related errors, monitoring and audit tools used to assess medicines optimisation within care homes in England
IRAS ID
280907
Contact name
Andrea Manfrin
Contact email
Sponsor organisation
University of Central Lancashire
Duration of Study in the UK
1 years, 5 months, 30 days
Research summary
In 2006, the Commission for Social Care Inspection stated that nearly 50% of the care homes for older people and younger adults providing 210,000 places for residents were not meeting the minimum standards in relations to the safe use of medicines. In 2018, the Care Quality Commission in England reported that 20% of residential homes and 28% of nursing homes were rated “inadequate” or “requires improvement”, citing the unsafe use of medicines as frequent contributor to these ratings.
A review conducted by the research team (MI, AA, JP, AM) identified that evidence-based information on medicines-related incidents rates in care homes was available from published studies and grey literature, but not described in a consistent way. The review also identified that even if some improvements were implemented (for example medicines reconciliation on the transfer of care), there were no descriptions of the evaluation of the effectiveness and cost-effectiveness of these tools, improvements or solutions.
Therefore, we have developed this research project to undertake interviews with registered managers of care homes to investigate current challenges related to the medicines optimisation audits currently undertaken. Focus groups will then be held with residents, care staff, visiting health and social care staff, local authority safeguarding teams and Care Quality Commission Inspectors to complement the registered managers interviews. Current medicines optimisation audit tools are to be requested from care homes, community pharmacies and the CCGs. These will be mapped against the themes identified from the interviews and focus groups.
The research project is anticipated to last 12 to 18 months.
REC name
Social Care REC
REC reference
21/IEC08/0015
Date of REC Opinion
14 Sep 2021
REC opinion
Further Information Favourable Opinion