The integrated approach to medication safety is a system wide partnership working to improve medicines safety in care homes.  In recognising this complex issue needs to be tackled together, the project is led by the  National Care Forum, with members of the Care Provider Alliance, the Royal College of General Practitioners, Royal College of Physicians, Royal College of Psychiatrists, Royal Pharmaceutical Society and Royal College of Nursing , the Health Foundation and Age UK ,  the DH are supporting  the work programme. A set of practical tools to help residents, doctors, pharmacists and care home staff reduce the incidence of medication errors and near misses is being developed and tested. This will include tools to help when residents transfer care settings. Contact Susan.Went@rcplondon.ac.uk    

The Academy of Medical Royal Colleges published twelve generic record keeping standards for any patient’s medical record. In addition Standards have been developed for hospital admission, handover and discharge. This work programme was undertaken by the Royal College of Physicians in collaboration with the other royal colleges and clinical disciplines. This work is ongoing, and links to the relevant resources can be found on the Royal College of Physicians website: http://www.rcplondon.ac.uk/resources/structure-and-content-medical-notes

NHS Connecting for Health is currently developing core content for all types of handover as a professional and information standard. Contact: christine.ranger@nhs.net

The Academy of Medical Royal Colleges has produced Standards for the design of hospital in-patient prescription charts. http://aomrc.org.uk/publications/reports-guidance.html