Why Safe Disposal of Medication is Important to You and Your Service Users. There are some very simple rules to follow to avoid putting people at risk and also avoiding potential prosecution as a care worker.
Why Correct Disposal Matters
Do not flush unused medicine or dispose of it at home. When in a care setting, safe handling of medicines includes safe disposal of them as a formal documented process, not an afterthought.
Identifying What Needs Disposing
Make sure you regularly check the dates on all of the medications that you hold in your store. Also, make a note if a service user has stopped taking a particular medication for whatever reason. This includes any unused doses of medication, as well as any that have been damaged, or soiled in some way. Also, any returned by families or carers of people using your services need to be disposed of safely too.
Recording It on the MAR
Each disposal of medicines must be recorded on the person’s Medication Administration Record (MAR) with the date, quantity of medicine(s) disposed of and reason for disposal. A blank or missing entry will be interpreted as a possible medicines error when inspected.
Who Must Witness the Disposal
When a medication is disposed of two people must witness the disposal of the medication and both sign off the disposal of the medication. One of the people who witnesses the disposal of the medication is a trained responsible person.
Returning Controlled Drugs
For Controlled Medicines there are additional requirements for the formalization of paperwork that need to be completed and who is able to authorise the return of the drugs. Details can be found regarding the controlled drug accountable officer accountable requirements for your specific care workplace.
If you are looking for Safe handling of medication, see tidaltraining.co.uk/health-and-social-care-courses/safe-handling-of-medication-training/.
Non-Controlled Medicines and Blister Packs
Any unused non-controlled medicines and blister packs should be returned to a community pharmacy for safe and correct disposal. Medicines must NOT be disposed of in general household waste or clinical waste.
Getting the disposal of medicines right is crucial to the safety of your service users and to ensuring that your records are adequate to prove that you are doing medicines safely and in line with the policies of your organisation and the requirements of any inspection.
