Following the closure of the Health and Social Care Board (HSCB) from 31st March 2022 the Controlled Drug Accountable Officer (CDAO) role will transfer from 1st April 2022 from Mr Joe Brogan in the HSCB to Dr Lisa Byers, Senior Principal Pharmaceutical Officer in the Department of Health (DoH) who will be based in the Pharmaceutical Advice and Services Directorate, headed by the Chief Pharmaceutical Officer.
It is important to note that controlled drugs incidents will continue to be managed as per existing arrangements in accordance with the legislation and guidance. Therefore at an operational level, there will be no change.
From 1 April 2022 all relevant notifications and correspondence, including occurrence reports from other designated bodies, must be submitted to the DoH CDAO. A CDAO email box has been created for this purpose and will be subject to appropriate access controls in order to meet requirements of Data Protection legislation.
The new email address for submitting any information to the CDAO is:- ControlledDrugsAccountableOfficer@health-ni.gov.uk.
A new DoH Controlled Drugs Accountable Officer webpage has been created https://www.health-ni.gov.uk/publications/transfer-controlled-drugs-accountable-officer-role and will be used to provide updates about any future changes as a result of the CDAO role transferring to DoH.
Under The Controlled Drugs (Supervision of Management and Use) Regulations (Northern Ireland) 2009 HSC organisations and Independent Hospitals must appoint an Accountable Officer to be responsible for the management of controlled drugs and related governance issues in their organisation.
The day-to-day discharge of these responsibilities may be undertaken by Designated Officers, who will be responsible for providing appropriate assurances to the Accountable Officer.
All Designated Bodies are required under The Controlled Drugs (Supervision of Management and Use) Regulations (Northern Ireland) 2009 to nominate or to appoint an Accountable Officer and the Department must be notified of this appointment in writing.
The Accountable Officer is responsible for providing training to enable staff within their organisation to carry out their responsibilities in relation to controlled drugs.
To support Accountable Officers the DoH has developed training materials giving background to the legislation. These materials provide explanatory information relating to The Controlled Drugs (Supervision of Management and Use) Regulations (Northern Ireland) 2009.
The slides available at the links below can be customised by Accountable Officers to meet the needs of their individual organisations.
| Title and link to download | Date |
|---|---|
| LIN Presentation AO | 8th March 2021 |
| Training Slides AO Brief Overview | 20th October 2020 |
The Accountable Officers’ annual report concerns the implementation of The Controlled Drugs (Supervision of Management and Use) Regulations (Northern Ireland) 2009 which came into operation on 1 October 2009.
The report is written to record, inform, and to provide assurances to patients and the public, designated and responsible bodies, healthcare professionals and other stakeholders, of the progress made by Accountable Officers in respect of this legislation.
| Title and link to download | Date |
|---|---|
| Accountable Officers Report 2019-20 | 4th June 2021 |
| Accountable Officers Report 2018-19 | 20th November 2020 |
| Accountable Officers Report 2017-18 | 20th November 2020 |
| Accountable Officers Report 2016-17 | 30th April 2019 |
| Accountable Officers Report 2015-16 | 1st November 2017 |
| Accountable Officers Report 2014-15 | 27th January 2016 |
| Accountable Officers Report 2013-14 | 30th June 2014 |
| Accountable Officers Report 2012 | 30th December 2012 |
To support healthcare professionals and organisations in implementing the strengthened governance arrangements for controlled drugs in Northern Ireland and describe the legislative changes which have been made as a result of the Government’s response to the Fourth Report of the Shipman Inquiry, the HSCB has a developed a number of guidance documents and FAQs to support the governance arrangements in primary care: Controlled Drugs – HSCB (hscni.net)
Further guidance from the Department of Health is available at: https://www.health-ni.gov.uk/publications/guidance-safe-management-and-use-controlled-drugs
A single LIN exists in Northern Ireland.
This is a multi-disciplinary group, chaired by the Health and Social Care Board (HSCB), which meets quarterly.
It enables Accountable Officers who have a concern about the activities of any healthcare professional, to share them with any other Responsible Body who may be affected or who may have complementary information.
The LIN is chaired by Mr Joe Brogan, Assistant Director of Integrated Care – Head of Pharmacy and Medicines, HSCB whose contact details are as follows:
Mr Joe Brogan
Assistant Director of Integrated Care – Head of Pharmacy and Medicines
Gransha Park House, 15 Gransha Park, Clooney Road
Londonderry BT47 6FN
Email: joe.brogan@hscni.net
Tel: 028 9536 3375
HSCB guidance for all Designated Bodies and Responsible Bodies working within the Local Intelligence Network on managing and sharing concerns. The concerns considered within the guidance relate to controlled drugs and cover all aspects of their management and use as described within The Controlled Drugs (Supervision of Management and Use) Regulations (Northern Ireland) 2009.