NDIS Medication Management Policy: What to Include

Medication is one of the easiest areas for an audit finding because it touches records, storage, training and incidents at once. Here is what a policy needs, how to avoid the usual gaps, and how to tailor it to the supports you actually give.

Last updated: 8 October 2026

What it is and who needs it

A medication management policy sets out what your workers may and may not do with a participant's medication, and the records and checks that go with it. Any provider whose workers help participants with medication needs one. That includes personal care, community access, supported living and supports with a clinical element. Providers delivering high intensity supports face additional requirements in Module 1.

What it provides evidence for

The Core Module's provision of supports environment section has an outcome on management of medication: each participant requiring medication is confident their provider administers, stores and monitors its effects, and works to prevent errors or incidents. Its indicators cover clear records of medication and dosage, workers who understand effects and side effects, and safe, secure storage accessible only to trained workers. Where Module 1 applies, the high intensity daily personal activities module adds support-specific requirements.

What auditors check

Auditors look for the gap between the policy and the practice at the kitchen bench. They ask to see a medication record for a real participant, and check it identifies the person, the medication and the dose. They ask a worker to describe what they would do after a missed dose or a wrong dose. They look at how medication is stored in the participant's home or your premises, and they check training records for each worker who handles it.

Must-include checklist

Scope: which tasks workers may do, which they may not, and who decides for each participant.
What a medication record must show, including the information needed to identify the participant and give the right dose safely.
Who is responsible for each participant's medication information and how it is kept current.
Training and competency required before a worker handles medication, and how it is recorded.
Safe storage, including how medications are identified, differentiated and kept from unauthorised access.
What a worker does after an error, a refusal or a side effect, including who is called.
How errors are recorded as incidents and reviewed for lessons.
How the participant's own choices about their medication are respected.
Review of the policy, and a link to any module-specific procedures that apply.

Common mistakes

A policy that promises more than workers do. It describes administration when workers only prompt, or the reverse.
Records that cannot identify the participant. A chart without enough detail to give the right dose to the right person fails the indicator.
No competency check. A course certificate without an assessment of the worker in practice.
Errors that never become incidents. The register shows none, while workers describe several.
Storage ignored in homes. The policy covers the office but not the places supports are given.

How to adapt it to your organisation

Decide exactly what your service does with medication, and write only that. If you only prompt, say so and set out when a worker must call the participant's supporter or a health practitioner. If you administer, name the roles allowed to do it and the training behind each. Check any clinical elements with a qualified health practitioner before you adopt them, because this page cannot give clinical advice. Add the forms and charts you will really use, and test them with a worker before the audit. Link the policy to your incident report form so an error leaves a trail. Finally, reflect it in each participant's risk assessment, where medication risks for that person are recorded.

How the package covers it

The Core Module documents in the package include medication management, and the Module 1 documents add medication management procedures for high intensity supports. See what is included and pricing. A policy that does not match your practice is a risk, so edit it to what your workers actually do.

This page is general information based on NDIS Commission and government sources at the date shown. It is not legal or professional advice, and the rules can change. Check the NDIS Commission's current requirements and read our disclaimer. The checklists on this page describe good practice, not an official list of requirements, and our documents do not guarantee registration.

Frequently Asked Questions

Does every NDIS provider need a medication management policy?

The Core Module outcome on management of medication applies to each participant who requires medication from you. If your workers never prompt, assist with or administer medication, you can say so in a short policy that sets the boundary and explains what workers do if a participant asks. Auditors look at the scope of your supports.

Is a medication error an incident?

Under the Commission's definition, an incident includes an event that has or could have caused harm to a person with disability, so a medication error belongs in your incident management system. Your policy should say how workers report one and who reviews it.

Who can administer medication?

The Core Module says only appropriately trained workers access medications, and workers responsible for administering must understand the effects, side effects and the steps to take after an incident. For high intensity supports such as subcutaneous injections, Module 1 expects documented orders from the prescribing health practitioner and specific worker training.