Managing regulation and governance processes in your service

Opus Pharmacy Services are a Skills for Care endorsed and CPD accredited provider that offer online medicines training delivered through pharmacist-led sessions, e-learning courses and self-study distance learning workbooks. The organisation has a full page of courses recommended specifically for care homes, which you can browse by clicking here. 

This practical one-day course teaches staff how to administer medicines in a systematic way to reduce the risk of errors. We assess staff competence at selecting the correct medicines using simulated medicines rounds. Staff must reach a certain standard by the last simulated medicines round to gain a certificate. For those who fail, we offer a follow-on online assessment for them to gain their certificate.

OPUS have developed a wide selection of free downloadable resources to assist care organisations in meeting their regulatory and legislative requirements. 

Learning, improvement and innovation section

Good and outstanding-rated services encourage and effectively resource the drive for improvement. From effective quality assurance practices to the ability to research and act upon innovation, these services are committed to providing the best care possible and can implement the changes needed.

Good governance and management are the bedrock of adult social care services being able to provide good and outstanding care. Your service will need effective support and systems in place to ensure that the service is well-led.

Training for medicine administration in care homes is crucial for resident safety, compliance with regulations, and mitigating risks associated with medication errors. This newsletter highlights courses and resources that aim to help you enhance the accuracy, efficiency, and overall quality of medicine administration in your service.

Care Quality Commission (CQC) requires care providers to have a formal system to assess staff competence to administer medication. This course provides the knowledge and skills to enable care providers to create and manage a formal system to assess staff competence in administering medication.

This in-person course is funded for adult social care staff working for Brighton and Hove City Council, and staff working in adult social care provider services that contract with Brighton and Hove City Council.

This course will help you to develop and implement a medicines policy and associated audits, as well provide a general update on any new local/national legislation and guidance.

This in-person course is funded for adult social care staff working for Brighton and Hove City Council, and staff working in adult social care provider services that contract with Brighton and Hove City Council.

This course is aimed at senior staff who are responsible for assessing medication competencies with support workers.

This online training course will provide you with the essential procedures and techniques you need to know, as well as the key legislation relevant to medication. It also outlines your responsibility in relation to your role along with different types of medication and their uses.

This qualification aims to help learners develop:

• A general understanding of different types of medication and their use
• Knowledge of the procedures for obtaining, storing, administering and disposing of medication
• An understanding of legislation and the audit process related to medication and issues of responsibility and accountability
• An understanding of the record-keeping process for medication

The course is offered by a range of providers with both online and in-person options available.

The intention of this regulation is to make sure that providers have systems and processes that ensure that they are able to meet other requirements in this part of the Health and Social Care Act 2008 (Regulated Activities) Regulations 2014 (Regulations 4 to 20A). To meet this regulation; providers must have effective governance, including assurance and auditing systems or processes.

Governance can be defined as a collection of systems and processes concerned with ensuring the overall direction, effectiveness, supervision and accountability of an organisation or service. Within adult social care, good governance is paramount due to the nature of the work completed and the impact your management can have on people’s lives.

This guidance describes how providers and managers can meet the regulations. These include the fundamental standards – the standards below which care must never fall.

The Safe Management of Medicines for Social Care Staff elearning modules are aimed at the non-registered medicines workforce, focusing on the knowledge and skills necessary to handle and administer medicines safely in domiciliary and residential settings. It also explains some of the differences between handling medicines in residential care homes compared with nursing care homes. The materials are based on the requirements of the CQC and NICE.