There are no rules about which members of staff can hold controlled drugs keys in a care home. Providers should carry out a risk assessment to decide this. This should also be included in your controlled drugs policy. Combinations that are issued to individual members of staff should not be shared with anyone else, including colleagues; The Register can be ‘maintained’ by a suitably trained person (e.g., a veterinary nurse), but ultimate responsibility lies with the veterinary surgeon.

Drugs should be removed when a vehicle goes for service or is left unattended. Drugs should not be routinely carried in personal vehicles. In no circumstances should a personal vehicle safe be used as a storage location for drugs outside of a deployment. The doctor may be the team’s medical officer, but this is not necessary. If a team is unable to arrange a local supply, the first port of call is the region’s representative on the medical subcommittee. Failing this, supplies can be arranged by the national medical director/officer. A record of the name of individual carrying the CDs onto the hill must be kept on the incident log – if the possession is transferred then this should be documented. A record should not be made in the CD Register but a separate record made to maintain an audit trail.It is recognised that sometimes a locum may need to have access to the key if they are in sole charge. A key holder who is not a veterinary surgeon should only remove CDs from the cabinet and/or return them to the cabinet on the specific authority of a veterinary surgeon. While the task itself can be delegated, the legal and professional responsibility will remain with the veterinary surgeon. In Great Britain, Schedule 2 Controlled Drugs (CDs) must be destroyed in the presence of and as directed by, any of the following witnesses: If a GP makes a domiciliary visit and either administers a CD from the bag or issues a handwritten prescription for a CD, they should make a note of this in the patient’s record as soon as possible after the event. It is good practice to write a prescription for the item administered, endorse it with the word ‘administered’ and date it. Prescribing controlled drugs A statement of events is required for any theft/loss/discrepancy submitted to the team medical officer. a single central controlled drugs register and any additional records necessary to show who was responsible for the drugs at any one time

They can be completed electronically but may be required by the pharmacy to have a written signature. The doctor fills in the form stating the purpose as ‘other’ – to supply xx mountain rescue team under Home Office License Number: xxxxxx. This is a rare privilege, and all team members should understand the significance of this. Their actions as individuals in respect of CD handling could fundamentally affect the whole organisation’s ability to retain a licence, not just the team to whom the individual belongs. Licensing conditions and team’s/individual’s obligations Prescriptions must be signed in ink by the person issuing them and may be hand-written, typed in a computerised form, or computer generated. The CD register should be kept on the premises to which it relates and be available for inspection at any time. The register should not be stored in the CD cupboard but should be stored safely close by. It should not be used for any other purpose and should be kept for a minimum of two years after the date of the last entry. A computerised CD register may also be used, subject to meeting the requirements of the Regulations (see paragraphs 9 and 10 of ' Safer Management of Controlled Drugs Gateway Reference: 6819')

Out-of-date / unwanted / patients’ own controlled drugs and patient returned controlled drugs

Combinations should also be changed whenever there are grounds to suspect that they may have become known to an unauthorised person; Our opening hours are from 9 am till 5 pm Monday to Thursday and 8:30 am till 4:30 pm on Fridays. Related products In the presence of the witness, the vet of the practice where CDs are being disposed of should render the CDs irretrievable by one of the suggested means above. If dispensing transmucosal buprenorphine, written informed consent should be obtained from the client, as this is off-licence use in accordance with the prescribing Cascade (see: RCVS Guidance Chapter 4). People can buy food grade cannabis products over the counter (for example cannabidiol, CBD and hemp oil products) as food supplements. These products are not medicines and therefore cannot make health claims. As with other over-the-counter products, care home staff should take medical advice if people want to use food grade cannabis products. This is in case there are any issues, for example, interactions with prescribed medicines. A GP would not usually have to authorise the use of food grade cannabis products. But if a GP is involved, this could reduce any risks to the person concerned.

A Casualty Card must be completed with full patient details and drug, dose, route, date, batch number, patients name, casualty carers name and witness when a CD is given. This should be kept as a medical record meeting GDPR requirements for 8 years (or up to twenty-fifth birthday for a child). Entries should not be cancelled, altered or crossed out. You should sign and date any corrections in the margin or in footnotes. the use of a separate, larger bore needle to withdraw the product from the vial before changing to a smaller needle to administer the productmust have no personal, professional or financial interest in or relationship with the veterinary practice where the drug is being destroyed (for example, temporary staff and family members of staff are not considered to be independent; ‘family member’ refers to spouse, partners, parents, siblings, children or other relatives)