My father can barely see: how do I organise his medication safely?

With poor sight, the risk is not just forgetting a dose but picking the wrong box or tablet: the answer is a system that does not rely on reading small print.

If your father can barely see, the safest approach is to organise his medication so that he does not have to read boxes or tell tablets apart by how they look: doses prepared by day and time, large high contrast labels, marks he can recognise by touch and a fixed routine.

Sight loss is common with age, and with it come mix ups between similar boxes, leaflets that cannot be read and tablets that are dropped and not found. Here we explain what help exists and how to set up a practical system.

Why does poor sight make medication so difficult?

Because almost everything about medication depends on reading: the name on the box, the dose, the expiry date, the leaflet and the doctor’s instructions. If the person cannot see well, they may confuse two similar boxes, take the wrong tablet or not notice that a medicine has expired.

• Many boxes have similar colours and sizes.
• Small white tablets are hard to tell apart.
• A change of brand can change the box or the colour of the tablet and confuse someone who relied on how it looked.
• Eye drops and inhalers require good technique, not just remembering the time.

If changes of colour or brand are a problem at home, we explain what to do when tablets change colour or brand.

What help is there on packaging and at the pharmacy?

In Spain, medicine packaging must carry braille. The consolidated Law on guarantees and rational use of medicines states that, to guarantee access to information for blind or visually impaired people, all packaging must show in braille the information needed to identify the medicine correctly.

The same law provides that, at the request of associations representing the people affected, the marketing authorisation holder must make sure the leaflet is available in formats suitable for blind or partially sighted people. In addition, the dosage system good practice guide from the Spanish General Council of Pharmacists recommends that pharmacies consider agreements with the relevant associations to provide braille labels.

In practice, ask your pharmacy for:

• A large print treatment sheet with the name of each medicine, what it is for and when it is taken.
• A heads up if the brand or appearance of any medicine changes.
• Advice on aids for eye drops or inhalers, if he needs them.
• Information on having his medication prepared in a personalised dosage system.

How do I adapt the home and the dose system?

The goal is for your father to recognise each dose without reading small print. Guidance from the NHS Specialist Pharmacy Service, based on RNIB advice, suggests labels in Arial of at least 14 point and, better still, bold black text on a yellow background.

Keep all medication in one place, always in the same order, and remove boxes of treatments he no longer takes. The fewer boxes in sight, the fewer chances of a mistake.

What about eye drops and inhalers?

These are the hardest with poor sight, because getting the right medicine is not enough: it has to be applied properly. Moorfields Eye Hospital, part of the NHS, notes that there are devices that make putting in drops easier and that it is worth speaking to the doctor or pharmacist if opening the container or squeezing the bottle is difficult.

• If he uses several eye drops, mark them with different textures to tell them apart.
• Write the opening date on the bottle in large print.
• Ask the pharmacy to check his inhaler technique.
• If his technique is no longer safe, consider having someone help him with those doses.

If he also takes tablets at the same time, we explain how to organise eye drops, inhalers and tablets.

A practical example: Antonio and his sight loss

Let us take the case of Antonio, 84, who lives alone and has lost a lot of sight because of a retinal condition. He takes eight medicines and his daughter discovers he has mixed up two almost identical white boxes for several days.

1. His daughter takes the list of medicines and the treatment sheet from the electronic prescription to the pharmacy.
2. The pharmacist reviews the medication and suggests preparing it in a dosage system, with one pocket per dose.
3. At home, they place the blister pack on the kitchen table, with a lamp above it and a dark tray.
4. One of his two eye drops has a rubber band so he can tell them apart by touch.
5. His daughter calls him every evening and he tells her whether the day’s pocket is empty.

Antonio no longer has to read boxes: he only has to open the pocket that is due.

How can IMA Health help?

At IMA Health we coordinate with a specialised pharmacy so that medication is prepared by day and time, delivered to the home and followed up personally, so the person does not have to tell boxes or tablets apart. To see how it works, read about our home medication service.

Sources

• BOE: Royal Legislative Decree 1/2015, consolidated Law on guarantees and rational use of medicines (in Spanish)
• Spanish General Council of Pharmacists: good practice in community pharmacy, preparation and provision of personalised dosage systems (2018, in Spanish)
• NHS Specialist Pharmacy Service: top tips for pharmacy to support people with sight loss in managing their medicines (2025)
• Moorfields Eye Hospital (NHS): how to use your eye drops

This article is for information only and does not replace advice from your doctor or pharmacist.