There are three particular actions that need to be completed following the death of a resident in your care, in order to ensure that all data is held by the Home in case of a request from a regulatory body or the coroner.
Firstly, the medication must be returned on the device to ensure that there is an accurate record of all medication left in the Home. This must be held in the home for 7 days.
Secondly, the resident must be archived on Atlas eMAR to ensure that no false records are recorded after the resident passes and to prevent any medication from prompting to be administered.
Thirdly, the MAR charts for the resident must be kept for a period of time determined by the Home, see the bottom of this Guide for more guidance surrounding this.
Recording the medication as returned to Pharmacy on Atlas eMAR
From the Return Stock section in manage stock on Atlas eMAR request select the option to complete any pending returns before returning any of the deceased resident’s medication.
This will clear the returns list and generate copy to your Atlas Central.
If no items appear on the returns section of Atlas eMAR go straight to point 4.
Place the generated report with the medication already boxed for returning to the Pharmacy.
On Atlas eMAR, return all of the medication for the resident who has passed away.
Refer to How to return stock on Atlas eMAR, from Atlas Central for details of how to return stock on the Atlas device.
Once all of the medication has been entered, select complete returns as per step 1 to generate and upload the residents returns list to Atlas Central.
Update the resident’s status to "Deceased" on Atlas eMAR. When the resident has been marked as deceased on the device this will then stop all medications for them on Atlas eMAR.
Keep the deceased resident’s medication and the report for returned medications separate from all other returns for 7 days in case they are requested by the coroner.
After 7 days the medication and the returns report back can be placed in with the other medication awaiting collection and returned to the Pharmacy for destruction.
How to archive a Resident on Atlas eMAR device
Log into Atlas eMAR and select view residents from the homepage.
Scroll down until you find the resident you wish to remove from Atlas eMAR and click on their name.
Select the icon named edit details on the middle right-hand side of the screen. There will be a drop-down menu which by default will say present, unless the resident is already set to a status away from the home e.g. hospital.
Select the new status of the resident from the drop-down menu. If deceased or discharged is selected, then this will immediately remove the resident from the device.
This action will need to be witnessed by a colleague.
How to locate archived MAR charts on Atlas Central
Please note you will only be able to access these if you have been given sufficient permissions from the Manager of the Organisation.
Log into Atlas Central using your unique email and pin.
Enter the organisation
From the dashboard select run reports and request your verification code, to be sent to either your email or your mobile phone.
Once the code has been received, enter this into the text box provided and confirm.
From the run reports page, select MAR charts option
Select the floor, show archived patients, patient name and start date that you wish to generate the MAR chart for. This will generate a 28 day cycle MAR sheet for the resident.
Standard 9.11 Care Homes for Older People - When a service user dies, medicines should be retained for a period of seven days in case there is a coroner’s inquest.
The CQC and CSSIW do not, nor any other regulatory body, have any specific guidance around the amount of time that records should be kept and stored by an organisation after a resident has passed away.
Consideration may be given to hold residents archived records for a minimum of three years in case of any requests for information made by the coroner’s office or any other regulatory body, however it is down to the discretion of the Care Home Manager to provide guidance on how long to store the records for. The ultimate decision rests with the Care Home Organisation.
Our data retention policy specifies that as a company we will keep resident’s records for seven years before deletion, regardless of when/if the resident is archived. Any requests for archived records that are not already readily available on Atlas central for the Care Home to access need to be made in writing to support@invatechhealth.com and there may be a delay between the request and retrieval of data.