The Royal Pharmaceutical Society is refreshing its Professional Standards for Homecare Services.

The standards were originally published in 2013 and are a framework to support teams providing and commissioning homecare services. Homecare medicines services deliver medication, and any necessary associated care, direct to the patient’s home with their consent.

The standards are intended to help patients experience a consistent quality of homecare services, irrespective of provider, as well as protect them from avoidable incidents and help them get the best outcomes from their medicines.

Jennifer Allen, the chief pharmaceutical officer’s clinical fellow who is leading the refresh, said: “It has been 10 years since the first Homecare Standards were published, so it is important that they are brought up to date to reflect current service design, medicine pathways and delivery models.”

To carry out the update, a multidisciplinary UK-wide ‘task and finish’ group has been set up, including representatives from the Association of Pharmacy Technicians and the Royal College of Nursing.

The draft refresh will be shared for consultation in August to allow comment and input on the updated content. The final version will be completed in the autumn.

The 2013 Handbook for Homecare Services in England identifies resources and good practice examples which may be used by homecare teams in the development of robust arrangements for compliance with the three domains of the Standard.

In September 2014 the Handbook for Homecare Services in Wales was published, adapted from the England version with the support of the All Wales Medicines Homecare Committee and RPS Wales.