Explain Why The Cosh Legislation Is An Aspect Of Safe Care

A prescription can be identified as legally authorised written instruction by a prescribing officer to a pharmacist to dispense medication.

* Nursing care providers are not covered by this legislation and must make their own arrangements for the disposal of unwanted medicine through a licensed waste management company.

Assisting – At the request of the service user, opening bottles and packets; removing lids; popping pills out of packages when the service user cannot physically do this and has asked the care worker to help with that specific medicine; shaking bottles.

The Control of Substances Hazardous to Health (COSHH) Regulations2002 is the regulation that helps to control the risk of hazardous substances that may cause harm to individuals at the work place. The regulation states that when working with medication in a care home the managers is responsible for carrying out a risk assessment, this will assure that the medication is being handled with care. The manger also has to ensure hazardous substances are used safely and also stored correctly in the care home.

Roles and responsibilities of the person dispensing the medication is to check to make sure the prescription is legal and signed by a qualified person, ensure there are no errors, to dispense the right quantity and dose of medication, make sure the medication is clearly labelled with the instructions of the dose, the name of the medication and person, provide advice and treatment for any minor illnesses and health concerns. Pharmacies will also provide a repeat prescription service.

The Misuse of Drugs (Safe Custody) Regulations 1973 (and later amendments) The Health and Safety at Work Act (1974),

Legislation – The Medicines Act, Control of Substances Hazardous to Health (COSHH) Regulations, The Health and Safety at Work Act, The Misuse of Drugs Act, The Misuse of Drugs (Safe Custody) Regulations, Health and Social Care Act

Riddor (the Reporting of Injuries, Diseases and Dangerous Occurrences Regulations.) promotes safety in health and social care settings as it

1. In the workplace there is a generic Medication Management Policy and Procedures for Adult Services (Issue 10, 2012) document. This is kept to hand in a locked cupboard, readily available to read. It requires that all Healthcare Staff are given mandatory training and refreshers are provided. Legislation which surrounds the administration of medication includes The Medicines Act 1968, The Misuse of Drugs Act 1971, The Data Protection Act 1998, The Care Standards Act 2000 and The Health and Social Care Act 2001

Non care setting - Medications are often stored and administered in a variety of non-health care settings. These settings include: primary and secondary schools, Child day care centres, Board and care homes, Jails and prisons. In all these settings, employees frequently are responsible for handling and administering prescription and over-the-counter medications to clients or residents. Some organizations may employ licensed health professionals to directly manage the medication administration process. However, many of these settings have no licensed health professionals involved. Where medications are stored and administered to individuals, written policies and procedures should address the following: Acquisition of medications (e.g., from parents, caregivers, pharmacies), Specification of which personnel are allowed access to medications and allowed to administer medications to students, clients or residents, Labelling and packaging of medications managed for students, clients

How legislation, policies and procedures relate to health, safety and security in a health and social care setting and how legislation, policies and procedures promote safety of individuals in a health and social care setting.

Legislations/codes of practice relating to general health and safety in a health or social care work setting are: The Health and Safety at Work Act 1974; Riddor 1995, COSHH (Control of Substances Hazardous to Health); Manual Handling operations regulations 1992; Health And Safety (First aid regulations 1981); Fire protection (Workplace) Regulations 1997; Food Safety Act 1990; Personal Protective Equipment and Management of Health and safety at work regulations 1999.

There are several legislations in place with protocols for the administration of medication which I have listed below. The main policy re admin of drugs and storing of drugs and medicines is the Control Of Substances Hazardous to Health or COSHH but along with this there are other policies in place as per the list below.

Thus when patient arrives and ask for medication, technician will retrieve by patients last name. Technician confirms patient’s address before handing medication to patient. By confirming address, technician makes sure that they are giving right medication to right patient and reduces the error of handing medication to wrong patient having same names. While handing medication pharmacist counsel patient on their medication and answer all their concerns and questions. Patient has direct access to the pharmacist, as pharmacist is not hidden behind the counter while counseling. Patients are more satisfied with the service provided as they can directly and free talk to

There are other pharmacy staff who also have roles in relation to the safe dispensing of medicines. A pharmacist is responsible for: Overall checking of a prescription to make sure that it is legal and written by a person qualified to do so, dispensing the right quantity of the correct medicine, ensuring that medicines are correctly labelled with the person’s name, the name of the medicine and the dosage, providing advice and treatment for minor illnesses, injuries and health concerns, providing a repeat prescription service in co-operation with GP