Interim CD guidance for England
Two new interim guidance documents on future requirements for requisitions and record keeping for Controlled Drugs have been produced by the Department of Health. A third document updates and replaces earlier guidance on good CD practice in secondary care.
The interim guidance on requirements
for requisitions for Schedule 1,
2 and 3 CDs is intended to apply where the requisition is fulfilled by
any supplier other than an NHS hospital trust, care home, pharmaceutical
wholesaler or manufacturer.
From 1 January 2008, the name and address
of the supplier will have to be indelibly recorded on any CD requisition
form. Pharmacy stamps are expected to fulfil this requirement. The forms
will then have to be sent to the supplier’s NHS pricing office
in the same way as prescriptions for CDs.
To facilitate consistency, pricing offices are developing a standard
CD requisition form that those requisitioning CDs will be expected to
use.
However, there will be no legal obligation to do so, provided requisitions
contain the legally required information (name, address and profession
or occupation of person placing the order, the purpose for which the
CD is required, the name, form, strength and total quantity of the drug,
and the date). Once they have been finalised, the new requisition forms
will be available from the primary care trust that is responsible for
the practitioner placing the order.
The interim guidance on record
keeping, which applies from 1 February
2008, sets out how CD registers can be maintained when the requirement
to keep records in a specified format is abolished and replaced by a
requirement to keep information under specified headings.
It also gives guidance on how additional information that is not legally
required, such as running balances, can be recorded and how often running
balances should be checked against stocks. Guidance is also given on
making records of who has collected dispensed CDs and what evidence of
that person’s identity was seen, if any.
The updated guidance on good
practice in secondary care incorporates
advice on the possession and supply of CDs by operating department practitioners,
record keeping requirements, the appointment of destruction witnesses
by accountable officers and clarification on prescribing by doctors who
have not achieved full General Medical Council registration.
All three new documents apply in England only. |
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Pharmaceutical Journal
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