Care home residents need support from practitioners across various health and social care organisations. General nursing care is provided inhouse in care homes with nursing but by district nurses in care homes without nursing. Routine medical care is provided by a GP and other health needs are met by a range of generalist and specialist practitioners. These practitioners are involved with medicines in diverse capacities and to varying extents.

Individual specialists usually work as part of community health services, hospital trusts outreach, community mental health, care home support and palliative care teams. The commissioning and provision of specialist services varies from locality to locality. Residents also have access to primary health care services provided by dentists, pharmacists and opticians, as well as secondary care services. Other practitioners involved may include social workers, psychologists and therapists.

It is important that each practitioner works in partnership with the patient, his/her relatives and the care home staff to share and pass on relevant information to minimise risks – communication is of the upmost importance.

GPs would be the main referral contacts for pharmacists. For MURs and the NMS, the patients would have consented to sharing information with GPs, but further consent should be sought if information is to be shared with others, including care home staff.

Reflective exercise

Your local GP is keen to reduce medicines waste and asks for your help. How could you identify medicines that are being wasted? If you have care home patients, check some of the prescriptions you have dispensed in the past month and make specific suggestions to reduce waste.