Hi, I forgot to sign the MAR Sheet at 6.30am as I do night work but remembered at 10 am so I dived back to work to sign it only to be told it’s too late. Is this right? I know I should have done it at the time. Is there a time limit on signing the Mar Sheet?

Answered by Sheila Scott

Dear T,

Thank you for your question.

You should refer to the policy and procedure relating to the administration of medicines in your service. This should clearly say that the administration of medicine should be recorded on the MAR chart immediately.

You are to be commended for realising the error that you made and for reporting it.

The policy should also have a section on what to do when errors occur.

It is a matter for management if they take any further action.

The important thing is that you have undoubtedly learnt from this error and will do all you can to ensure that such a thing doesn’t happen again.

This is what CQC says about the Administration of Medicines:

Health and Social Care Act 2008 (Regulated Activities) Regulations 2014: Regulation 12

The intention of this regulation is to prevent people from receiving unsafe care and treatment and prevent avoidable harm or risk of harm. Providers must assess the risks to people’s health and safety during any care or treatment and make sure that staff have the qualifications, competence, skills and experience to keep people safe.

Providers must make sure that the premises and any equipment used is safe and where applicable, available in sufficient quantities. Medicines must be supplied in sufficient quantities, managed safely and administered appropriately to make sure people are safe.

Medicines must be administered accurately, in accordance with any prescriber instructions and at suitable times to make sure that people who use the service are not placed at risk.

I hope this is helpful.

Sheila