Safer Management of Controlled Drugs

The CCA believes that patient safety is paramount and is supportive of any measure that brings about genuine and achievable improvements in patient safety, and we were pleased that the Shipman enquiry recognised that pharmacy generally has a very good record with regard to its role in the safe management of controlled drugs. Any regulation that adds unnecessary bureaucracy would add complexity and cost to the system and we trust that any regulations will be implemented with that in mind.

Of specific importance, we would wish the same framework to apply to Scotland and Wales equally as the safer management of controlled drugs must be considered to be a UK issue. Similarly, we would want to see consistency of implementation across all UK primary care organisations.