On This Page


Carers often organise appointments and treatments for the person they are caring for and help with medicines. As a carer, it may be your responsibility to manage the person’s medical appointments. This may include making the appointment, providing transport and sitting with them when they meet with a healthcare professional.

When you are making a doctor’s appointment for the person you care for, let the receptionist know if you need an immediate appointment or if it can be scheduled later in the week.

If you are worried about waiting a long time for your appointment, ask for one of the first appointments of the day. You should also let them know if you: have any special needs, such as wheelchair access.

If the medical appointment is for tests, ask how you need to prepare the person. They may have to fast (not eat or drink) before a blood test, for example. You may also have to make a follow-up appointment to discuss the test results.

If you need to make appointments with multiple healthcare professionals, tell each professional about the other appointments. That way, and with the person’s permission, they can share any information and treatment recommendations.

To keep track, it may help to use a single notebook or diary to record all the person’s appointments.

Using calendar app in your phone is another good option. As the carer of a person with an illness, disability, older person with care needs, or a health condition, it may be up to you to make sure the person puts their medical treatment plan into action. A treatment plan by a healthcare professional guides the person on the road to recovery or helps reduce their symptoms, allowing them to live their best life possible.

Treatment plans change to suit the needs of the person based on: how much supports the person has.

The treatment plan outlines how the person’s health problem will be managed

For each health problem, the treatment plan should clearly look at: how these goals will be achieved.

The plan should also describe how health problems will be managed, including: when and how the person’s progress will reviewed. The treatment plan should prioritise between problems that need immediate attention and those that are less urgent.

If you or the person you care for at any time feels that the treatment plan is not working, contact their doctor or the healthcare professional who wrote the treatment plan to discuss other options.

Some people may take a range of medicines (including prescription, over-the-counter and complementary medicine) to treat different health or medical conditions. Medicine can make a significant difference to a person’s life – they can prevent and treat disease, increase life expectancy and improve quality of life.

But they can also cause harm

If medicines are not used correctly they have the potential to have a negative effect on health.

Here are some tips for managing medicines

Read the consumer medicine information

Most prescription and many over-the-counter medicines have a consumer medicine information (CMI) leaflet. These are available from your doctor or pharmacist and are a good starting point for learning more about a medicine. You can also find out more information about your medicine from Ask questions.

If you are unsure about anything to do with the person’s medicine, double-check with their doctor or pharmacist. You can also ask the pharmacist to review all the medicines to make sure they are still the right ones to be taking.

Tell their doctor or other healthcare professional about all medicines

All medicines have the potential to cause unwanted side effects and can be dangerous if taken in combination with certain other treatments. Let all healthcare professionals know about the medicines the person is taking, including complementary medicines.

Plan the medicines

Know how much medicine the person has left to give yourself plenty of time to refill their prescription, to ensure they never run out.

Keep a list of medicines

Maintaining a list all of the person’s medicines, including the dosage and instructions for use, will help you keep track.

Keeping the list in your phone will ensure you always have it with you

Use a dose administration aid

Ask the pharmacist to fill in a dose administration aid (often called a ‘dosette box’) for each day of the week.

Do not share medicines

Taking medicine that is meant for someone else can be very dangerous. It is important not to give the person someone else’s medicines (or to give their medicine to someone else). Dispose of out-of-date medicines.

Never give the person expired medicine

Check the date on the packet or container

Either throw it in the rubbish bin or return it to the pharmacy. Managing appointments would like an interpreter (they will need to arrange for this ahead of time) specifically want to see either a male or female doctor For more information see the Making and managing appointments Medical treatment plans how sick they are treatment results – stopping treatments that are not working and increasing treatments that are what the problem is what the goals of treatment are (short- and long-term goals) the type of treatment (for example, group versus individual counselling) how often treatment will be needed who is responsible for treatment Taking medicines safely NPS MedicineWise For more information about using medicines safely, read the Safe Medicine Use Where to get help Your doctor Your pharmacist.

Key Points

  • Carers often organise appointments and treatments for the person they are caring for and help with medicines
  • That way, and with the person’s permission, they can share any information and treatment recommendations
  • Treatment plans change to suit the needs of the person based on: how much supports the person has
  • treatment plan outlines how the person’s health problem will be managed
  • For each health problem, the treatment plan should clearly look at: how these goals will be achieved