Medicines Management Training for Healthcare Staff in Ireland

Medicines management training for healthcare staff in Ireland is partly a professional matter, partly a regulatory one and partly a matter of employer governance. This guide looks at it from the workforce and compliance side: who is accountable under Nursing and Midwifery Board of Ireland (NMBI) guidance, what Health Information and Quality Authority (HIQA) regulations expect of providers and persons in charge, what the Health Products Regulatory Authority (HPRA) does, and how to keep training evidence. It contains no clinical, dosing or treatment advice. Anything on how to give a medicine safely in practice belongs in your clinical policies and with qualified clinicians.

Medicines training is one strand of the wider training an employer must plan for. For the full picture, see our complete guide to mandatory training for healthcare staff in Ireland.

Who is accountable? What NMBI guidance says

The NMBI's Guidance for Registered Nurses and Midwives on Medication Administration was published on 11 August 2020. NMBI says it extends the Code of Professional Conduct and Ethics to medication administration, and is meant to be used alongside legislation, regulatory standards and each service provider's policies, procedures, protocols and guidelines (PPPGs). NMBI's medicines management page also lists an older 2007 document, which it says some nurses and midwives may still find useful. The page does not say which of the two is current beyond presenting the 2020 document as the administration guidance, and it shows no date of its own.

As we read the 2020 guidance, it applies to registered nurses and midwives who are currently registered with NMBI. Among its points on responsibility:

• Nurses and midwives take accountability for medication administration and keep up to date with relevant legislation.
• They work within their scope of practice and confirm they can accept responsibility for their actions and omissions, speaking to a line manager or NMBI if unsure.
• They are responsible for their own continuing professional development and should give evidence of it if NMBI or their employer requires it.
• They raise any knowledge or skill gaps with their line manager.
• Nursing and midwifery students may administer medication only under the direct supervision of a registered nurse or midwife, and only if they agree to do so.
• Those involved in vaccination should have immunisation knowledge and skills, be competent in the management of anaphylaxis, and have gained and maintained basic life support skills.

Our suggestion: treat individual accountability and organisational duties as two sides of the same record, so that a nurse's competence is supported by access to training and clear local policies.

What the guidance expects of employers and services

The 2020 guidance describes duties that fall on the service provider. As we read it, the guidance expects employers and services to (it says "must" for clear governance structures, explicit roles, collaboratively developed PPPGs and strict controlled-drug PPPGs, and "should" for PPPGs supporting adverse event reporting):

• maintain arrangements for the safe and effective use of medication, with PPPGs developed with practising nurses and midwives;
• set clear governance structures and explicit roles;
• provide strict PPPGs for controlled drugs;
• treat omissions as an organisational issue, with PPPGs that support staff; and
• have PPPGs that support adverse event reporting.

The guidance also says to report every medication-related error, whether actual or potential, and to implement remedial action, and to report adverse events even where the patient was not harmed, using the local reporting system. For the training manager, the takeaway is simple: staff need to know the local policies and the reporting route, and the organisation needs evidence that they do.

HIQA designated centres: what the regulations say about medicines

For nursing homes and other designated centres, medicines appear in the Health Act 2007 regulations. We read the Care and Welfare Regulations for designated centres for older people (S.I. No. 415 of 2013, as made), which have since been amended, so check the current consolidated text. Regulation 29, "Medicines and pharmaceutical services", covers the following at a governance level:

• the provider must, so far as reasonably practicable, make available a pharmacist of the resident's choice or one acceptable to them;
• the person in charge must facilitate the pharmacist in meeting their obligations under relevant legislation or Pharmaceutical Society of Ireland guidance;
• any pharmacist record of medication-related interventions is kept in a safe and accessible place in the centre;
• medicinal products dispensed or supplied to a resident are stored securely;
• medicines are given in line with the prescriber's directions and any pharmacist advice; and
• out-of-date or unneeded products are stored securely, segregated and disposed of under national legislation or guidance.

HIQA's assessment-judgment framework for older people's centres (version 4.1, May 2025) sets out the Regulation 29 lines of enquiry on pharmacist access, secure storage, administration as directed by the prescriber and disposal of out-of-date medicines, and deals with staff training separately under Regulation 16. Regulation 29 in the 2013 text as made does not itself mention staff training or medication errors. Other duties appear elsewhere. Regulation 16 requires the person in charge to ensure staff have access to appropriate training and are appropriately supervised. Regulation 4 requires written policies, and Schedule 5 of the 2013 text lists policies on the ordering, receipt, prescribing, storing and administration of medicines and on handling and disposal of unused or out-of-date medicines. Regulation 26 covers arrangements to identify, record, investigate and learn from serious incidents and adverse events, and Regulation 31 covers notifying the Chief Inspector. Records are dealt with through Regulation 21 and its schedules. In the 2013 text as made, they include a record of each medicine administered, signed and dated by the administering nurse, and a record of any medication errors or adverse reactions.

For how inspectors look at training generally, see our post on HIQA inspections and staff training. The regulations for disability services are separate and we did not read them for this article, so do not assume the same wording applies there.

The HPRA's role

The HPRA is Ireland's regulator of medicines and other health products. Its "what we regulate" page lists medicines for human and animal use, medical devices, clinical trials, blood, tissues and cells, controlled substances and others. The page shows no date and does not discuss how staff administer medicines. A separate HPRA page on safety monitoring says the HPRA encourages the public, including patients and carers, and healthcare professionals to report suspected side effects. The NMBI guidance likewise refers to reporting adverse reactions in line with PPPGs, including communicating with the HPRA. Our suggestion: your training could tell staff how suspected adverse reactions are reported within your own service, and who decides whether to report externally.

We did not open the Pharmaceutical Society of Ireland or the Pre-Hospital Emergency Care Council (PHECC) pages for this article. If your staff work under their guidance, check those bodies directly.

Building a medicines training record

A practical approach, and our suggestion rather than a legal rule, is to treat medicines training as part of a training matrix. A record might show:

• each staff member's role and whether it involves handling or administering medicines under your policies (including agency staff);
• which local policies they have read and when;
• any competence assessment done and who signed it off;
• the date of the last refresher, and the next one due;
• trigger events that prompt earlier review, such as an incident, a policy change or a change of role; and
• how staff are told about the incident reporting route.

Our guide to a training records matrix for Irish healthcare employers explains how to structure that evidence. The Regulation 29 text we read sets no fixed refresher interval, so decide yours on risk, document why, and review it. Dublin employers with multiple sites or agency staff should check that the same evidence is kept for everyone.

What employers can ask staff to do

Our suggestion: make expectations explicit at induction. Staff should know their scope of practice, which tasks they may and may not do, where the medicines policies are held, how to raise a concern about a medicine, and how to report an error or near miss without delay. For registered nurses, NMBI says it is for the individual to evidence their CPD if asked, so employers can reasonably request that evidence.

Learnsignal's offices are off Baggot Street in Dublin, and we offer in-person training from there. For current details, see our CPD pages.

Frequently asked questions

Is there a single mandatory medicines course in Ireland?

The sources we read do not name one. NMBI guidance sets professional expectations, and the regulations require access to appropriate training and written policies. Check what your regulator and employer require.

Who is responsible when a medication error happens?

NMBI guidance puts accountability on the individual practitioner, and also says omissions are an organisational issue and that providers should have policies, procedures, protocols and guidelines to support adverse event reporting.

Does the HPRA train staff?

The pages we read describe the HPRA as a regulator of health products. They do not describe it as a training provider.

How often should medicines training be refreshed?

None of the pages we read give a fixed interval. Set one based on risk and record your reasoning.

Keep policies, training and incident reporting joined up, and check the current NMBI, HIQA and HPRA pages before relying on any summary, including this one.