Plain-English explanations of the technical terms and legislation used in this document.
- Accountable Officer (Controlled Drugs)
- The senior person responsible for the safe, appropriate and lawful management of Controlled Drugs within an organisation.
- Anticoagulant
- A medicine that thins the blood and reduces clotting, which carries a high risk of harm if it is given incorrectly.
- Biologic
- A medicine made from living cells or organisms that often needs careful temperature-controlled storage.
- Care Quality Commission (CQC)
- The independent regulator of health and social care services in England.
- 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 Local Intelligence Network (CDLIN)
- A local network that shares information and concerns about the safe management of Controlled Drugs between organisations.
- Control of Substances Hazardous to Health Regulations 2002 (COSHH)
- The law for safely managing chemicals and other hazardous substances at work.
- Cytotoxic medicine
- A medicine, often used in cancer treatment, that is toxic to cells and requires special handling to protect staff.
- Diversion
- The theft or redirection of medicines, especially Controlled Drugs, away from their proper and lawful use.
- First-expiry-first-out (FEFO)
- A stock rotation method that uses the items with the earliest expiry date first to reduce waste and avoid using out-of-date stock.
- General sales list medicine
- A medicine that can be sold to the public without a prescription or pharmacist supervision.
- Health and Social Care Act 2008 (Regulated Activities) Regulations 2014
- The regulations that set the fundamental standards providers of regulated care must meet, enforced by the Care Quality Commission.
- High-risk medicine
- A medicine that is more likely to cause serious harm if it is used in error, so it needs extra storage and handling safeguards.
- Human Medicines Regulations 2012
- The main law governing the sale, supply, labelling and handling of medicines for human use in the UK.
- Infection prevention and control (IPC)
- The measures used to stop infection spreading between patients, staff and visitors.
- Likelihood
- How probable it is that a hazard will actually cause harm, scored as part of a risk rating.
- Look-alike / sound-alike (LASA)
- Medicines whose names or packaging are similar enough to be confused with one another, increasing the risk of selection errors.
- Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA)
- The UK body that regulates medicines and medical devices and issues safety alerts about them.
- Misuse of Drugs Act 1971
- The law that classifies dangerous or harmful drugs and controls their possession, supply and production.
- Misuse of Drugs Regulations 2001
- The regulations that set out how Controlled Drugs may be lawfully possessed, stored, supplied and recorded, grouped into schedules.
- Misuse of Drugs (Safe Custody) Regulations 1973
- The law that sets the security and storage standards, such as cabinet construction, for certain Controlled Drugs.
- National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE)
- The body that produces evidence-based guidance and standards for health and care in England.
- Near miss
- An event that could have caused harm but did not, by chance or because it was caught in time.
- Personal protective equipment (PPE)
- Items such as gloves, aprons and masks worn to protect against harm or infection.
- Pharmacy medicine
- A medicine that can be sold without a prescription but only under the supervision of a pharmacist.
- Potassium chloride concentrate
- A strong electrolyte solution that can be fatal if given undiluted, so its storage is tightly restricted.
- Prescription-only medicine (POM)
- A medicine that may lawfully be supplied only on the instruction of an appropriate prescriber.
- Quarantine (stock)
- Setting aside expired, recalled or damaged stock in a separate area so it cannot be used by mistake.
- RCD-protected socket
- An electrical socket fitted with a residual current device that cuts the power quickly if a fault is detected, reducing the risk of electric shock or fire.
- Registered Manager
- The person registered with the regulator as responsible for the day-to-day running of a service.
- Registered Provider
- The organisation or person legally registered with the regulator to carry out a regulated activity.
- Regulation 12 (Safe care and treatment)
- The regulation requiring care and treatment, including medicines management, to be provided in a safe way for the people using the service.
- Regulation 17 (Good governance)
- The regulation requiring providers to have effective systems to assess, monitor and improve the quality and safety of their services.
- Residual risk
- The level of risk that remains after the existing controls have been put in place.
- Risk assessment
- A structured check identifying what could cause harm and what is being done to prevent it.
- Schedules 2 to 5 (Controlled Drugs)
- The legal categories that group Controlled Drugs by how strictly their storage, supply and record-keeping are regulated.
- Patient
- A person who receives care or treatment from the service; also referred to in legislation as a service user.
- Severity
- How serious the harm would be if a hazard caused an injury or loss, scored as part of a risk rating.
- 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).
- Standard operating procedure (SOP)
- A written, step-by-step instruction that staff follow to carry out a task safely and consistently.
- Tall-man lettering
- Writing part of a medicine name in capital letters to highlight the differences between look-alike or sound-alike names and reduce errors.
- Yellow Card scheme
- The UK system for reporting suspected side effects of medicines and problems with medical devices to the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency.