Top Tools and Tech for Medication Support at Home

Managing medication at home can sometimes be challenging, especially if you or someone you care for takes several different meds every day. Remembering which pill to take when and trying not to miss doses can be stressful and make the daily routine feel quite complicated. 

The good news is that there are new technologies and pharmacy services that are making it easier to stay on top of medicines at home, with a range of tools designed to make medication management more straightforward. 

In this guide, we explore some of the best medication technology and tools to help support individuals, families and carers with managing and taking meds correctly. 

Why medication adherence matters

Medication adherence is a term that simply means taking the medications as prescribed, with the right dose at the specified time(s) and for the right duration. It matters because good medication adherence helps to ensure that treatment for any conditions is able to work most effectively. It also lowers the risk of complications or unwanted interactions between some medications if they are taken together incorrectly, which can sometimes result in hospital admissions. 

For many people managing long-term or chronic conditions, sticking to the prescription instructions can make a big positive difference, but it can be challenging to do when at home. NHS research indicates that up to 50% of patients don’t take their medication as intended. Some of the most common reasons for this can include: 

• Forgetting to take doses

• Difficulty opening medication packaging or reading small labels

• Confusion over complex medication schedules

• Limited time, ability or confidence to sort multiple medications at home into daily or weekly ready-to-take pill boxes or organisers

That’s where technology and medication support pharmacy services can come in. Especially when used together, they can help create a seamless, safe, and stress-free approach to managing medicines at home.

Using voice assistants and smart reminders

Voice assistants are often available as separate devices, usually referred to as smart speakers, but are also built into most modern smartphones. While many people use them for things like checking the weather forecast or playing music, they can also offer medication support. Voice assistants can be set to:

• Give recurring reminders at each set time to take medication. For example, you can ask a voice assistant to remind you to take your morning tablets at 8am every day.

• Announce notifications and reminders out loud, which can be really helpful for anyone living with vision loss.

• Synchronise reminders with smart watches or smartphones, which will vibrate and give a pop up alert on the device when medication is due.

These reminders can be particularly helpful for older adults living independently, or carers supporting someone remotely. 

If you’re using a smart speaker for reminders, it’s important that you keep your device in a central area of the home, such as the kitchen or living room, so reminders can be easily heard and acted upon. If using a smartphone for the reminders, it’s important to keep it close to hand, at all times, for the same reason.

Using an NHS-approved pill sorting and pouching service

Available through PillTime, a registered NHS pharmacy, pre-sorted medication pouches do the hard work of medicine management for you, by syncing up with your GP about your prescriptions and sending your medications to your home in pre-sorted and clearly labelled pouches. Each pouch contains exactly the right medications for a specific date and time of day, with the label telling you exactly when it should be taken. 

Pill pouches are:

• Convenient: No need to fill up a weekly dosette box or deal with big bottles or boxes of tablets.

• Accurate: Each order is checked by pharmacists for safety.

• Clear: Labels show the medication names, doses, and times.

• Portable: Easy to take with you when travelling or staying overnight away from home.

For people with busy lives, multiple prescriptions, or who care for others, these pouches can make an enormous difference when it comes to managing medication and minimising the risk of anything going wrong with taking medicines. They help remove any guesswork, prevent missed or double doses, and give peace of mind that everything is being taken correctly and as instructed by the prescriber.

Using an app to manage ordering prescriptions

Ordering prescription medication through an app means that there is no need to visit a pharmacy in person or on behalf of someone you care for every time, as the medicines are delivered to the door instead. 

The PillTime app works seamlessly with our pouching service and provides easy ordering with your NHS log-in. It also provides order reminders (to help ensure you don’t run out of essential medication) along with delivery updates and alerts so you always know when your medication is on its way.

The app has been designed to be very straightforward to use, even for those who may sometimes find navigating new technology a challenge, and communicates directly with your GP to approve the prescriptions and keep them informed. 

Non-prescription medications, such as creams, dressings or inhalers, can also be delivered alongside the prescribed pill pouches. 

Using magnifying and accessibility tools for medication assistance

For those who find it difficult to read the small print on medicine packaging or leaflets, smartphones offer built-in accessibility tools that can make a world of difference.

Using the magnifier feature (available on most iPhones and Android devices) allows you to:

• Enlarge medication labels to check names and doses clearly

• Read expiry dates or instructions printed in small font

• Take and zoom in on photos of labels for easier reading later

There are also text-to-speech tools that can read information aloud — especially helpful for those with visual impairments or literacy challenges. Combining these accessibility features with organised medication packaging (like pre-sorted pouches) helps ensure safety and independence at home.

The benefits of combining medication technology for managing meds at home

While each of the tools or tech mentioned above can help with medication assistance at home, the most effective approach is often when you combine several together. 

For example, you can:

• Use an NHS approved pharmacy app to order prescription medication and track your delivery.

• Use pre-sorted pill pouches for clear and convenient organisation that is all done for you.

• Pair them with smart reminders on your phone or smart speaker to alert you when it’s time to open each pouch.

• Use your phone’s magnifier to double-check any labels or instructions.

By combining these tools, individuals and carers can create a personalised, stress-free medication system that helps support better health outcomes and greater independence at home.

If you or someone you care for could benefit from a simpler way to manage daily medicines, why not find out more about how PillTime works?