The safer management of controlled drugs: Annual update 2022

Introduction

As the regulator for health and adult social care services, we are responsible for making sure that service providers, and other regulators, maintain a safe environment for the management and use of controlled drugs in England. We do this under the Controlled Drugs (Supervision of Management and Use) Regulations 2013.

As part of our responsibilities under these regulations, we report annually on what we find through our oversight. We use this information and our regulatory activities under the Health and Social Care Act to make recommendations to help ensure the continuing effectiveness of the arrangements for managing controlled drugs safely in England.

This report is important for:

• all controlled drugs accountable officers (CDAOs) in England and their support teams
• organisations that manage controlled drugs
• health and care professionals with an interest or remit in controlled drugs
• commissioners of health and care services
• professional healthcare and regulatory bodies.

The data in this annual update relates to the calendar year 2022, but we also include relevant information for the first part of 2023.