Plain-English explanations of the technical terms and legislation used in this document.
- Accountable Officer (Controlled Drugs)
- A senior person legally responsible for the safe management and use of Controlled Drugs within an organisation.
- Adverse drug reaction
- An unwanted or harmful effect a patient experiences that is linked to a medicine they have taken.
- Amiodarone
- A heart-rhythm medicine that needs regular blood-test monitoring because it can affect the thyroid, liver and lungs.
- Anaphylaxis
- A severe, life-threatening allergic reaction needing immediate emergency treatment.
- Antimicrobial resistance
- When bacteria and other germs stop responding to the medicines designed to kill them, making infections harder to treat.
- Antimicrobial stewardship
- The careful, responsible use of antibiotics and similar medicines to keep them effective and reduce resistance.
- Best interests
- A decision made for someone who cannot decide for themselves, choosing the option that is best for them.
- British National Formulary (BNF) and British National Formulary for Children (BNFC)
- The standard UK reference books that tell prescribers how to use medicines safely in adults and in children.
- Care Quality Commission (CQC)
- The independent regulator of health and social care services in England.
- Central Alerting System (CAS)
- A national system used to send urgent safety alerts about medicines and medical devices to health organisations.
- Cold chain
- Keeping vaccines and certain medicines within a safe temperature range from delivery to use.
- Controlled Drug (CD)
- A medicine whose supply, storage and records are tightly restricted by law because of its potential for misuse.
- Controlled Drugs Accountable Officer (CDAO)
- The named officer at a commissioner who oversees the safe use of Controlled Drugs across local services and investigates concerns.
- Controlled Drugs Local Intelligence Network
- A group of local organisations that share information to spot and act on concerns about the misuse of Controlled Drugs.
- Covert administration
- Giving a medicine to a person without their knowledge, for example hidden in food, only lawful for someone who lacks capacity and in their best interests.
- Denaturing
- Making a Controlled Drug unusable and unrecoverable before it is thrown away, so it cannot be misused.
- Deprescribing
- Safely reducing or stopping medicines that are no longer needed or may be doing more harm than good.
- Disease-modifying antirheumatic drugs (DMARDs)
- Medicines used for conditions such as rheumatoid arthritis that need regular blood-test monitoring because of their effects on the body.
- Dispensing practice
- A general practice allowed to supply medicines directly to certain patients, instead of them using a separate pharmacy.
- Full blood count (FBC)
- A common blood test that checks the different types of cells in the blood.
- General Medical Council (GMC)
- The body that registers and sets standards for doctors in the UK.
- General Pharmaceutical Council (GPhC)
- The body that registers and sets standards for pharmacists and pharmacy technicians in Great Britain.
- General Sales List (GSL) medicine
- A medicine that can be sold to the public in shops as well as pharmacies, without a prescription.
- Green Book
- The UK Health Security Agency's official guidance on vaccines and immunisation, including how to store and handle them.
- Health and Care Professions Council (HCPC)
- The body that registers and sets standards for a range of health professionals, such as paramedics.
- Health and Social Care Act 2008 (Regulated Activities) Regulations 2014
- The regulations setting out the fundamental standards that registered care providers must meet, enforced by the Care Quality Commission.
- High-risk medicine
- A medicine that can cause serious harm if used incorrectly, so it needs extra checks and monitoring.
- Human Medicines Regulations 2012
- The main UK law governing how medicines are licensed, supplied, prescribed and administered.
- Integrated Care Board (ICB)
- The local body responsible for planning and arranging health services for a defined area.
- International Normalised Ratio (INR)
- A blood test that measures how quickly blood clots, used to monitor patients taking blood-thinning medicines such as warfarin.
- Licensed waste contractor
- A company legally approved to collect and dispose of clinical and pharmaceutical waste safely.
- Lithium
- A mood-stabilising medicine that needs regular blood-level and other monitoring because the safe and harmful doses are close together.
- Liver function tests (LFTs)
- Blood tests that check how well the liver is working.
- Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA)
- The UK body that regulates medicines and medical devices and monitors their safety.
- Medicines optimisation
- Helping patients get the best outcomes from their medicines, using them safely, effectively and only where they are of benefit.
- Medicines reconciliation
- Checking and matching a patient's medicines list against new information, such as a hospital letter, to catch and fix any differences.
- Mental Capacity Act 2005
- The law that protects and supports people who may be unable to make particular decisions for themselves.
- Misuse of Drugs Act 1971 and Misuse of Drugs Regulations 2001
- The laws that classify Controlled Drugs and set the rules for prescribing, supplying, storing and recording them.
- Misuse of Drugs (Safe Custody) Regulations 1973
- The law setting out how Controlled Drugs must be securely stored, including the standard of cabinet required.
- National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE)
- The body that produces evidence-based guidance on treatments and care for use across health and social care.
- National Patient Safety Alert
- An official warning issued nationally to make health services take action to prevent harm to patients.
- Near miss
- An event that could have caused harm but did not, by chance or because it was caught in time.
- Nursing and Midwifery Council (NMC)
- The body that registers and sets standards for nurses and midwives in the UK.
- Off-label (unlicensed use)
- Using a licensed medicine in a way not covered by its licence, for example for a different condition, age group or dose.
- Patient Group Direction (PGD)
- A written instruction letting named staff supply or give a medicine to a defined group of patients without an individual prescription.
- Patient Specific Direction (PSD)
- A written instruction from a prescriber for a medicine to be supplied or given to one named patient.
- Pharmacy (P) medicine
- A medicine that can be sold without a prescription but only from a pharmacy, under a pharmacist's supervision.
- PINCER
- A recognised set of computer searches used in general practice to find patients at risk from common prescribing errors.
- Polypharmacy
- The use of several medicines at the same time by one patient, which needs careful review to stay safe.
- Prescription Only Medicine (POM)
- A medicine that may lawfully be supplied only on the instruction of an appropriate prescriber.
- Quality statement
- A short statement describing the standard of care the regulator expects, used to judge a service.
- Registered Manager
- The person registered with the regulator as responsible for the day-to-day running of a service.
- Regulated activity
- A type of care or treatment the law requires a provider to register with the regulator to deliver.
- Regulation 12 (Safe care and treatment)
- The legal duty on care providers to provide care safely, including managing medicines and risks properly.
- Repeat prescribing
- A system that lets patients reorder regular medicines without seeing a clinician each time, with periodic review built in.
- Revalidation
- The regular process by which registered health professionals demonstrate they remain up to date and fit to practise.
- Serious Shortage Protocol (SSP)
- An official instruction allowing pharmacists to supply an alternative when a particular medicine is in short supply.
- Shared care agreement
- A written arrangement setting out how a specialist and a general practice will jointly manage a patient's medicine and monitoring.
- Sharps
- Needles, blades and other items that can cut or puncture the skin.
- Significant event
- An incident the team reviews in detail to understand what happened and learn how to prevent it recurring.
- Single assessment framework
- The structure the regulator uses to judge a service, built around quality statements and five key questions (safe, effective, caring, responsive, well-led).
- Structured medication review (SMR)
- A thorough, planned review of all of a patient's medicines, done with the patient, to check they remain safe, effective and wanted.
- Thyroid function tests (TFTs)
- Blood tests that check how well the thyroid gland is working.
- Transfer of care
- The point at which responsibility for a patient moves between services, such as admission to or discharge from hospital.
- UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA)
- The national body responsible for protecting the public from infectious diseases and other health threats.
- Unlicensed medicine
- A medicine that does not have a UK licence for its use, supplied only where there is no suitable licensed alternative.
- Urea and electrolytes (U&Es)
- A blood test that checks kidney function and the balance of salts in the body.
- Warfarin
- A blood-thinning medicine that needs regular INR blood tests to keep the dose safe.
- Yellow Card Scheme
- The UK system for reporting suspected side effects and problems with medicines and medical devices to the regulator.