How should medicines be stored in a care home?

Managing medicines in care homes is of utmost importance. Many elderly residents rely on a range of medications to manage chronic conditions and maintain their health. These medications are often temperature-sensitive and require strict storage guidelines to preserve their potency. 

By preserving the potency of these drugs, medical fridges ensure that residents receive the full benefit of their prescribed treatments.

Why do care homes need a medical fridge?

Medical fridges create optimal storage conditions for vaccines and medications, so they can remain effective and safe to use.

These optimal storage conditions are otherwise known as the cold-chain, a specific temperature range medicines and vaccines should be kept in to prevent them from becoming spoiled. This temperature ranges from +2oC and +8oC. 

This temperature range must be monitored throughout the supply chain, from the point of manufacture through to administration. To achieve this, specialist equipment is used during transportation to the care home, and once delivered they must be transferred into a medical grade refrigerator.

Medical fridges come with additional features such as state-of-the-art thermometers that can measure the temperature of the vaccines, as well as the inside of the fridge. This helps when monitoring the medical fridge and its contents, to ensure the temperature range never falls out of the cold-chain. 

Most medical refrigerators also come fitted with alarms that will sound if this fluctuation in temperature occurs. This will help in alerting staff who can then take immediate action to protect the medicines inside.

Medical fridges also provide added protection with locks installed onto their doors. This will help to prevent access to any unauthorised members of staff, residents or visitors.

How to choose the right medical fridge for your care home 

Medical fridges come in a range of sizes in order to meet the different needs of different healthcare and medical practitioners.

The standard sizes for medical fridges are small, medium and large.

Small 

Small medical fridges are ideal for care homes where space is not a luxury. They can easily be installed under desks or on countertops for quick and easy access. 

Medium

Medium medical fridges are approximately the size of a domestic dishwasher and can also be installed under some bigger desks and counters. These medical fridges are great if you are not graced with space, but do need a reasonably high volume of medicine for your patients.

Large

Finally, large medical fridges are free standing and are roughly the same size as a domestic fridge/freezer unit. Although they require a good amount of space to be installed and used, they are extremely beneficial if your care home is at full resident capacity, and you need to stock a high volume of medications and vaccines.

How should medicines be stored in a care home medical fridge?

Once you have chosen the right medical fridge for your care home needs, it is important to understand how to correctly store medicines and vaccines inside the unit.

As a general rule, a medical fridge should never be more than 75% full and there should be around 1cm of space in between each medicine/vaccine.

It is also important to ensure that no vaccines are touching the back wall of the fridge as this can lead to freezing, which in turn can spoil the vaccines/medicine.

As well, you must keep an up to date record of the medicines and vaccines you have stored in your fridge, and regularly monitor and record temperatures.

If you would like some more information on how to stock your medical fridge properly, read our quick guide here. 

Compliance with healthcare regulations

Care homes are subject to strict healthcare regulations, including guidelines for medication storage and handling. 

Utilising medical fridges that meet regulatory standards helps care homes stay compliant and maintain high standards of care for their residents.

The Care Quality Commission states that “dedicated medicine fridges” should be used to “keep medicines at the correct temperature.” They continue, “make sure your medicine fridges are secure and accessible only to authorised staff.”

CoolMed medicine fridges all have built-in locks that ensure only authorised staff members can access stored medicines to maintain patient safety.

In care homes, the wellbeing of elderly residents is the top priority. Medical fridges are invaluable tools that play a crucial role in ensuring the safety, efficacy, and accessibility of medications and vaccines

Contact Us

If you would like more information about care home medical fridges and advice on how to correctly store vaccines and medicines, you can contact a member of the CoolMed team here.