SAHMS
Research type
Research Study
Full title
The SAfe-Home-Meds Study (SAHMS): Co-designing a medicines management safety system for use in homecare
IRAS ID
352004
Contact name
Beth Fylan
Contact email
Sponsor organisation
University of Bradford
Duration of Study in the UK
1 years, 6 months, 30 days
Research summary
Many older people who receive care at home need support with their medicines. Mistakes involving medicines can sometimes happen and may lead to harm, illness, or unnecessary hospital visits. While there has been a lot of research on medicines safety in hospitals and care homes, much less is known about how medicines are managed in homecare services.
This study aims to understand how medicines are currently managed and supported for people receiving care at home and to identify ways of making this safer and easier for everyone involved.
We will work with older people who receive homecare, family carers, homecare workers, managers, healthcare professionals and service commissioners across West Yorkshire, South Yorkshire and North Cumbria.The study will take place in two stages.
In the first stage, we will talk to people about their experiences of managing or supporting medicines at home. This will involve interviews with care users, family carers, care workers, managers and healthcare professionals. We will also observe some medicines-related care visits, where both the care user and care worker have agreed to take part, to better understand how medicines support is provided in everyday practice.
In the second stage, we will bring together people who have experience of homecare and medicines support to help design a practical system that could improve medicines safety in homecare services. This may include guidance, training resources, tools for reporting concerns and ways for organisations to monitor medicines safety.
We hope that the findings from this study will help improve the safety and quality of medicines support for people receiving care at home and support homecare organisations to provide safer care in the future.REC name
Wales REC 4
REC reference
26/WA/0150
Date of REC Opinion
10 Jun 2026
REC opinion
Favourable Opinion