Effective from August 2024

Approved by: Chief Executive Officer

At a Glance

This policy outlines the expectations of Five Good Friends and its workforce of the support of medications for Members.

Scope

This policy applies to all Five Good Friends workers (employees, Helpers, contractors).

Objective

To provide Five Good Friends workers with a clear approach to medication support services and enable the provision of high quality and safe medication support to our Members.

Definitions

• Medication – a drug that acts on or in the body to treat disease or illness, increase life expectancy, or improve someone’s life. Medication can be prescription and non-prescription medicines and can be taken by a variety of routes.
• Dose Administration Aid – a device or packaging system where oral doses of medication can be organised according to time of administration, e.g. a Webster pack. This must be packaged by a pharmacist.
• Administration – the process of giving a dose of medicine to a Member. This usually incorporates understanding the dose, what the medication is for and when to take it, potential side effects, and storage. Administration in the home care sector is undertaken by a registered health professional, e.g. registered nurse.
• Schedule 8 medications - are medicines with strict legislative controls, including opioid analgesics. Also called ‘scheduled 8 poisons’ and labelled ‘controlled drug’.
• Self-administration - when a Member administers their own medication. This usually incorporates the Member having an understanding of the dose, what the medication is for and when to take it, potential side effects, and storage.
• Medication support - when a non-registered health professional, e.g. Helper, assists a Member with self-administration by undertaking a specific task. The Member / Authorised Representative is still responsible for medication management with medication support.

Policy Statement