Medicines management

In partnership with GP practices, these teams support care homes with medication queries.
The MOCH team will also complete medication reviews for all permanent residents in care homes, including those residents who are new to a care home, recently discharged from hospital, or those who providers have concerns about. We will prioritise residents with increased rate of falls from multiple medications, residents with new swallowing difficulties, and residents with a new requirement for covert administration.
If you would like to use the services please contact your local MOCH team and they will respond within two working days.
• West Sussex Medicines Optimisation for Care Homes (MOCH) sc-tr.moch-westsussex@nhs.net (Monday to Friday 8-4pm excluding bank holidays).

Please note that you should not send patient sensitive information unless you have a secure email address.

The MOCH team will be running a FREE training session they will be delivering on 4th November 2025 for the West Sussex care homes and anybody who is interested in medication delivery within the care homes.

Please forward details of the ‘Self-care and Homely Remedies Toolkit’ training session to all the members in your team to help spread the word (see invite link below).

If you have any queries, please e-mail the MOCH Team on: sc-tr.moch-westsussex@nhs.net

Sussex Medicines Optimisation in Care Homes (MOCH) training for Care Homes

What? Monthly training on the Self-Care and Homely Remedies Toolkit to care home staff who manage and administer medication.
When? Tuesday 2nd December at 2.30pm
Where? Please click on the MS Teams link below to join the session.

Delivered by: Sussex Community NHS Foundation trust Medicines Optimisation in Care Homes (MOCH) team.  This session is offered free of charge and it’s not necessary to book in advance to join these sessions.

This session is suitable for all care home staff who manage and administer medication in a care home setting. The session will cover Self-Care medications, Homely Remedy medications and Personal Care medications/items. Participants will be given resources which can be adapted to suit the individual needs of the care home and will have the opportunity to ask any questions regarding the toolkit.

If you have any queries, please e-mail the MOCH Team on: sc-tr.moch-westsussex@nhs.net

Further sessions on: Tuesday 6th January, Tuesday 3rd February and Tuesday 3rd March 2026.

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Directory of Services (DoS) for community pharmacies
The opening times for local pharmacies can be accessed via this website. There is a contractual obligation that pharmacies keep this information up to date.

Locally Commission Service (LCS) for Palliative Care
The following pharmacies are part of the LCS for Palliative Care (end of life medication). These pharmacies should have in stock all medicines required to fulfil resident’s palliative care prescriptions.

Help and support for everyone to make the most out of being online and to improve their digital skills (for example accessing online resources, taking online training courses and using e-mail) is available from Barclays Digital Eagles.
Please visit the Barclays website for more information on Barclays Digital Eagles.

The Sussex Digital In-Reach Team provides a free platform on which Care Providers across Sussex can access free advice and support on technology, digitalisation and data protection. We are run by the care providers for the care providers.

Proxy Ordering

Using online health services has become more and more popular over the last few years, making communication between patients, carers, and healthcare professionals easier, faster and more convenient. Proxy access was developed to allow someone other than the patient to access and manage parts of their GP online services account. The proxy is given their own online access account (rather than using the patient’s login details). 

Proxy ordering access enables care homes to order medication monthly and also order interim/acute prescriptions via the practice’s online portal. Using this portal provides care homes with an electronic audit trail of what medicines have been ordered. This removes the need to make copies of repeat slips prior to submission to the GP practice. Online ordering of medication has been shown to be less time consuming for care home staff. 

To read about the benefits of proxy ordering, please access the "Evaluation and benefits page" on the NHS website.

For more information on online access for proxy ordering please see this information provided by NHS digital and these extensive resources available from the Digital Team: Sussex Digital In Reach Team, Digitising Social Care, and Digital Care Hub

Setting up Proxy Access to Ordering Medications for care home residents

NHS England and Improvement (NHS&I) are looking to support care homes, GP practices and community pharmacists in rolling out the ordering medications by proxy access – this is where care homes staff are able to order online repeat medication for their residents. 

To support care homes to be able to order medication online on behalf of their residents, NHS England have produced an online guide. This guide explains the terminology, how proxy access works, a step-by-step process guide, and a list of downloadable resources. 

Requests to set up Proxy Access should be directed to the Sussex Digital In Reach Team: Nada Wakeford, Project Manager nada@westsussexpartnersincare.org  

Please note: In order to use proxy access, it is important that providers have completed their (Data Security and Protection Toolkit) DSPT. For more information see section below.

DSPT Sussex - support for providers across Sussex to complete the DSPT

The Data Security and Protection Toolkit is an online self-assessment tool that enables organisations to measure and publish their performance against the National Data Guardian's ten data security standards.

All adult social care services in England, including residential and nursing homes, supported living, homecare, extra care, shared lives and day services, are strongly recommended to complete the DSPT.
All organisations that have access to NHS patient data and systems must use this toolkit to provide assurance that they are practising good data security and that personal information is handled correctly.

For more information and guidance on the DPST including how to register, please visit the data security and protection toolkit page on the Digital Social Care website.

If you need support completing the DSPT, please contact the Sussex Digital In-Reach Team. They provide support via e-learning training session and via e-mail.

The CQC states that ‘a homely remedy is a medicinal preparation used to treat minor ailments; it is purchased over the counter and does not require a prescription. They are kept as stock in the care home to allow access to products that would commonly be available in any household’.

Having a robust Homely Remedy Policy in place ensures that residents have access to medicines to treat minor ailments. The Sussex ICS has published a comprehensive Self-Care Toolkit - Homely Remedies and Supporting Access to Self-Care to support care home staff with the implementation of Self-Care and Homely Remedies policies and procedures. The West Sussex Medicines Optimisation in Care Homes pharmacy team are also available to discuss implementation and help with training and troubleshooting.

Sussex Medicines Optimisation in Care Homes (MOCH) training for Care Homes

What? Monthly training on the Self-Care and Homely Remedies Toolkit to care home staff who manage and administer medication.
When? Tuesday 1st July at 2.30pm
Where? Please click on the MS Teams link below to join the session.

Delivered by: Sussex Community NHS Foundation trust Medicines Optimisation in Care Homes (MOCH) team.
This session is offered free of charge and it’s not necessary to book in advance to join these sessions on Microsoft Teams. 
Meeting ID: 375 393 048 486
Passcode: hp29d27S
Dial in by phone
+44 20 3321 5208,,726027855#

This session is suitable for all care home staff who manage and administer medication in a care home setting. The session will cover Self-Care medications, Homely Remedy medications and Personal Care medications/items. Participants will be given resources which can be adapted to suit the individual needs of the care home and will have the opportunity to ask any questions regarding the toolkit.

Further sessions on: (none in August), Tuesday 2nd September, Tuesday 7th October, Tuesday 4th November, Tuesday 2nd December 2025, Tuesday 6th January, Tuesday 3rd February and Tuesday 3rd March 2026.

If you have any queries, please e-mail the MOCH Team on: sc-tr.moch-westsussex@nhs.net

In some circumstances, a best interest meeting may find that someone being supported in a care home or in their own home needs to have their medicines administered covertly. 

Adults should not be given medicines covertly unless they have been assessed as lacking the mental capacity to make decisions about their health or medicines.

Care staff need to be aware of the Mental Capacity Act and its Code of Practice and the Deprivation of Liberty Safeguards to protect both the person and themselves. NICE have guidance for both care homes and home care providers. 

The West Sussex Medicines Optimisation in Care Homes team can be contacted to obtain a master Covert Administration in care homes template documentation for documentation of the Mental Capacity assessments, best interests meetings, and pharmaceutical care planning.

University Hospitals Sussex and Surrey and Sussex Healthcare are all currently issuing patients discharged from hospital with 14 days supply of medication. 

If you have a patient discharged into your care home from hospital or a new resident admitted to your home, please let your GP Surgery pharmacy team know, as they will ensure that these residents are prioritised for a medicines reconciliation review. As part of the review process, they will endeavour to align and synchronise the residents' medication so that it falls into the monthly cycle of the home. Any complex residents requiring a full structured medication review can then be referred on to the Medicines Optimisation for Care Homes (MOCH) team by the PCN teams. 

If you have a resident admitted to hospital, please inform your community pharmacy team so that the person’s medication is not supplied with the monthly cycle.

NHS Sussex Integrated Care Board Medicines management team can be contacted for general advice around use of medications at sx-icb-wsx.mmt@nhs.net .

The Care Quality Commission has updated 3 of their webpages on medicines information to reflect current best practice:
• Refreshed guidance on the use of medicines with a ‘when required’ dose
• Information on the appropriate use of psychotropic medicines
• The safe management of lithium, a high-risk medicine
We encourage adult social care (ASC) providers to share these webpages with their teams, to help meet regulatory expectations and improve outcomes for people.
If you have any queries, please direct them to the medicines team, at medicines.enquiries@cqc.org.uk

New video resource: supporting carers to reduce emollient related fire risks

The National Fire Chiefs Council (NFCC) has released a new video resource aimed at helping carers and professionals to understand and reduce the fire risks associated with emollient creams. 

The video offers practical advice and reinforces key safety messages. Please note: The video contains real-life imagery and discussion of fire injuries and fatalities which some viewers may find distressing.

You can also refer to the NFCC Fire Risk Checklist to support person-centred risk assessments. 

Please share this video with relevant teams to help raise awareness and protect vulnerable individuals. For further information, please see Emollients and risk of severe and fatal burns: new resources available - GOV.UK and Know the Fire Risk - NFCC.