Guidance published on changes in management of Controlled Drugs
New guidance from the Royal Pharmaceutical Society is designed to help pharmacists throughout Britain cope with new arrangements for the management of Controlled Drugs. The changes affect the monitoring and inspection of CDs, prescribing and dispensing, record keeping and the destruction of unwanted CDs.
The detailed guidance is published in this week’s Journal on
p25 and the following
four pages (see also PDF 90K). It has also been
made available on the
Society’s website (PDF 200K).
The guidance updates earlier guidance specifically for England (PJ,
25 March, p355 PDF 60K), extending it to cover Scotland and Wales. Although
the
changes to primary legislation and to the Misuse of Drugs Regulations
2001 apply in all three countries, the arrangements for meeting the new
requirements are not necessarily the same. The new guidance highlights
the differences in implementation of which the Society is currently aware.
The guidance has been prepared in the Society’s Practice and Quality
Improvement Directorate after consulting with relevant government departments
in London, Edinburgh and Cardiff and the Society’s Scottish Department
and Welsh Executive offices.
David Pruce, the Society’s director of practice and quality improvement,
says: “The changes to take forward the recommendations that came
out of the Shipman Inquiry have been implemented over the past few months
and more changes are yet to come. This new guidance sets out what changes
are occurring, when they are expected to happen and how they will affect
pharmacists as they go about their daily work handling controlled drugs.”
Some of the key points covered in the new guidance include:
· The fact that some of the legislation will be enabling rather than
a mandatory requirement — although it may become mandatory at a
later date.
· The fact that private prescriptions for Schedule 2 and 3 CDs issued
on or after 7 July 2006 in Scotland and England will need to be on a
standardised form and contain the prescriber identification number.
· All CD prescriptions, both NHS and private, for Schedule 2, 3 and 4
CDs will only be valid for 28 days, either from the date of signing or
another appropriate date stated on the prescription.
· Pharmacists must ask any health care professional who is collecting
a Schedule 2 CD for proof of identity — unless already known to
them — but may still supply the CD if identity is not seen.
· Pharmacists should also ask patients, or the patients’ representatives,
for proof of identity when collecting Schedule 2 CDs.
· Pharmacists will be able to amend some technical and typographical
errors on CD prescriptions.
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The
Pharmaceutical Journal