Controlled drug register

Why it matters

Opioids and other controlled medicines are essential for pain relief and anaesthesia, and they are also open to diversion. Under the Single Convention on Narcotic Drugs of 1961, control measures include licensing, medical prescriptions and records, with the stringency of each measure set by the schedule a substance belongs to [1]. The register is how a hospital or pharmacy demonstrates that every dose is accounted for.

Key points

• Each entry records the date, quantity, source or recipient and the person responsible, and updates the running balance.
• Hospital procedures typically require a separate page for each preparation, entries in indelible ink, regular balance checks against stock and a defined retention period; one NHS health board in Wales keeps registers for two years after the last entry [2].
• National law determines which medicines are controlled and how their records are kept, so the register follows the national schedule [1].
• A discrepancy between the balance and the stock is investigated, never corrected silently. In an electronic register, a correction is a new entry linked to the original.

In Moana

MOANA Pharmacy maintains the controlled drug register within dispensing and ward supply, and every entry is recorded in the audit log.

Sources

1. The Single Convention on Narcotic Drugs of 1961, United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime, accessed 2026
2. Standard Operating Procedure for Record Keeping Controlled Drugs, Powys Teaching Health Board, NHS Wales, 2024