Organizations should have a policy for self‐administration of medicines. This should set out any exclusion criteria for self‐administration and the responsibilities and accountabilities of the staff for the care of patients who have assumed responsibility for the self‐administration of their medicines (RPS [310]).

Self‐administration is not an all‐or‐nothing process. Patients may retain or assume responsibility for some or all of their own medicines during their stay in hospital, including any items dispensed by the pharmacy for the patient during their inpatient stay, as part of a ‘one‐stop’ dispensing process. The patient's ability to manage the tasks involved in self‐administration of medicines must be assessed, with the patient's agreement (Figure 15.2), by the nursing staff to determine the patient's level of responsibility. The assessment must be completed daily as an ongoing process to document how the patient manages their medicines. All records must be retained in the patient's notes.

To aid self‐administration, patients’ medicines must be stored at the required temperatures. Each medication should be checked to ensure it is fit for use by the pharmacy team or nursing staff, and it should be stored in the patient's own locked cupboard or cabinet (by the patient's bedside) to enable easy accessibility. Each lockable cupboard or cabinet should have an individual key for that patient's use only (where appropriate), to ensure medicines cannot be accessed by unauthorized individuals (e.g. other patients) (RPS [310]).