1. PATIENT EDUCATION
1.1 Patients should be educated at dispensing on the rationale and importance of proper storage and disposal of CDs.
1.2 Dispensed CDs should be clearly labelled with instructions to encourage patients to return them to the dispensing pharmacy for proper disposal when they are no longer required.
2. RECEIPT OF PATIENT RETURNED CDS
2.1 Pharmacies may accept CDs returned by patients or caregivers regardless of the source. However, patients should still be encouraged to return CDs to the pharmacy from which they were supplied.
2.2 Pharmacies may accept patient returned CDs regardless of whether it has a label affixed or not.
2.3 Receipt of patient returned CDs should be processed by a pharmacist and witnessed by another pharmacy staff.
2.4 Record of receipt of patient returned CDs should be updated into Annex A: CD return and destruction record.
3. STORAGE OF PATIENT RETURNED CDS
3.1 Patient returned CDs should be kept under lock and key in a designated area of the pharmacy while awaiting destruction.
3.2 Patient returned CDs should be segregated from inventory CDs and clearly labelled as “patient returned controlled drugs for destruction”.
3.3 Patient returned CDs should not be returned to stock and re-dispensed to other patients.
3.4 Pharmacists are encouraged to destroy patient returned Controlled Drugs as soon as possible to avoid accumulation and increased security risk.
4. DESTRUCTION OF PATIENT RETURNED CDS
4.1 Destruction of patient returned CDs should be carried out by a pharmacist and witnessed by another pharmacy staff.
4.2 It is not required for destruction of patient returned CDs to be witnessed by an authorized person i.e. Health Sciences Authority (HSA) officer.
4.3 All patients returned CDs must be properly de-identified prior to disposal.
4.4 Destruction of patient returned CDs should be documented in Annex A: CD return and destruction record.