The Patients Association's Care Home Charter was developed to improve medication practices for people living in care homes across the UK. Developed in collaboration with experts in health and social care and endorsed by the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence and the Royal College of Nursing among other organisations, the Charter aims to help support residents living in care homes to be actively involved in decisions about their care. It also provides a guideline for care home staff to follow in order to improve medication practices.

The Charter has been piloted in 22 care homes across England, Wales and Northern Ireland and has been endorsed by several organisations including  the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence and the Royal College of Nursing.

On this page you can find out more about the Charter and download various resources:

• Download the Care Home Charter
• Resident’s and families version of the Charter
• Care home staff version of the Charter

You can also access and download various support tools including:

• Dysphagia checklist (Identifying dysphagia in residents in care homes)
• Audit checklist (Suggested audit standards which could be used to check and adherence to the charter)
• Care plan reminder template (An example of reminders which can be placed into electronic care plans to encourage adherence to the charter)

You can find information about medication management of adults with swallowing difficulties here.

The Charter is supported or endorsed by the following organisations:

• British Geriatrics Society
• Care England
• Care Quality Commission
• Community Pharmacy Patient Safety Group
• Jewish Care
• National Care Forum
• National Institute for Health and Care Excellence
• Queens Nursing Institute
• Royal College of General Practitioners
• Royal College of Nursing
• Royal College of Psychiatrists
• Royal College of Speech and Language Therapists
• Royal Pharmaceutical Society

Helping to monitor medicines

Adverse drug reactions (known as ADRs) can occur both in the home, and within the healthcare setting, when combinations of medications produce unexpected side effects. Unfortunately this means that in the most serious cases fatalities can occur. However ADRe (the ADR Profile) has helped all service users by addressing life-threatening problems, reducing pain or improving quality of life.

With preventable ADRs responsible for 5-8%  unplanned hospital admissions in the UK, and costing the NHS up to £2.5bn pa, it is crucial that healthcare organisations take advantage of tools which can help improve how medicines are managed. ADRe has been developed with the aid of nursing professionals to help nursing staff take a structured approach to the monitoring of medicines, identifying any ADRs service users may be experiencing, and then making changes to improve a patients' health and wellbeing. More information can be found here. 

Get involved: Do you work in or manage a care home and want to adopt the Care Home Charter? We can support you to do just that – email [email protected] to express your interest.

Download the Charter here.

Read more about the Care Home Charter here.