Norfolk County Council receives thousands of notifications from providers about medication errors. Some of these need to be reported as safeguarding concerns and some don’t. But which ones?

To support providers, the quality assurance team of Norfolk County Council and the Norfolk Safeguarding Adults Board have produced joint guidance. 

The guidance:

• sets out when a safeguarding concern will always need to be raised – where the medication error triggers a notification to the Care Quality Commission (CQC)

• gives examples of poor practice which do NOT trigger a safeguarding concern being raised

• actions that are required if a medication error does NOT trigger raising as a safeguarding concern

It is important to stress that if a medication error doesn’t trigger a safeguarding concern, action MUST still be taken to address the issue. There MUST be a management response. For example, it might be addressed through training or supervision. Remember, doing nothing is not an option.

We are asking all providers to whom this guidance applies to:

• download a copy of the guidance and make all your staff aware of it

• share it with other providers in the sector

Are you a health and social care professional (GP, nurse, GP, occupational therapist, physiotherapist, speech and language therapist, social worker, assistant practitioner/support worker) visiting care homes? Please tell the managers of care homes you visit about the  guidance.