Role of the Controlled Drugs Accountable Officer

The Controlled Drugs Accountable Officer

Samantha Travis is the Controlled Drugs Accountable Officer (CDAO) for NHS England North Midlands. This area covers Shropshire, Staffordshire, Derbyshire and Nottinghamshire.

Contact Details for the Controlled Drugs Team are:

Why and When to report CD incidents
Healthcare professionals have a statutory duty to report all complaints, concerns or untoward incidents involving controlled drugs (schedules 1 – 5) to the NHS England Controlled Drugs Accountable Officer.  Examples of incidents that require reporting include (this list is not exhaustive):

 Prescribing errors involving CDs
 Patient complaints involving CDs
 Concerns with colleagues or patients
 Medicines management CD issues
 Missing or lost CDs
 Discrepancies in the recording and stock levels of CDs
 Dispensing errors involving CDs

If you have a concern or make an error please report it; only by sharing this information can we learn from the incidents that have occurred. Your report may also help to inform wider concerns regarding controlled drugs.

How to Report a CD Incident
Reporting CD incidents, concerns or issues should be submitted via the on-line CD Reporting Tool. This is accessed via www.cdreporting.co.uk

the first time you use the tool, you will be asked to register, which is a quick and easy process. Following that initial registration, you can then log in via password for future visits. Incidents reported via the CDRT ensure that data is centrally and nationally captured to recognised and agreed standards and formats, and all incidents are automatically and immediately forwarded to the CDAO for review.

CONTROLLED DRUGS UPDATE

Sharing Good Practice in Derbyshire, Nottinghamshire Shropshire and Staffordshire

Further Functions of the CDRT .  The CDRT is being developed to enable reporters to utilise a ‘one-stop-shop’ in CD management.
The following functions are currently available to reporters (or in development):

 Requesting an Authorised Witness for Destruction of Out of Date CDs
 Quarterly Occurrence Reporting (for NHS Trusts and other large providers)
 Annual Declarations (for GP Practices, NHS Dentists, Private Dentists & Private Midwives)
– in development

Destruction of Controlled Drugs

If you have out of date CDs awaiting destruction, please ensure this is actioned in a timely manner. If you require an authorised witness to attend your pharmacy, please log your request via the CDRT: www.cdreporting.co.uk ; a witness can then be arranged, ensuring appropriate sharing of duties geographically.

If you have CDs or other medication for destruction resulting from patient returns, this is treated differently. Please ensure:

The destruction is witnessed by an appropriate member of your pharmacy team
Items are destroyed in accordance with regulations
Items are recorded in a bound ‘patient returns’ book

Further Information Updates
Please note that the NHS England North Midlands CD Team produce a short newsletter four times per year which contains relevant information to anyone prescribing, handling, managing and monitoring CDs; recent articles included:

 Advice on dealing with fraudulent prescriptions
 CDs and Fitness to Drive guidelines
 Safe disposal of empty methadone bottles
 NPS e-learning resource
 Validity of prescriptions
 Storage of CDs in a patient’s home
 Improving the visibility of Fentanyl patches
 Consultation on proposals to schedule Pregabalin and Gabapentin
 Review patients on high volumes of Morphine sulfate oral solution

Newsletters are sent out widely (electronically) to all NHS GP surgeries, Dental surgeries and all pharmacies in the North Midlands, LPCs, LMCs, LDCs, LOCs, CCGs, acute Trusts, all CD LIN members, CCGs, Prisons, Police CDLOs, hospices, out of hours medical services, care homes and other bodies and individuals on request.

CD Newsletter Nov 2019