CD Accountable Officer and Destruction Process

CD Accountable Officer: 

All health care professionals have a statutory duty to report any incidents, errors or concerns, however minor, regarding the management of Controlled Drugs to their local CD Accountable officer.

The CD Accountable officer for London is:

Sarah Dennison MRPharmS
Controlled Drugs Accountable Officer & Medication Safety Officer
NHS England and NHS Improvement – London Region

For all enquires, reporting concerns or incidents relating to Controlled Drugs please use the generic email:

Generic email: [email protected]

Controlled Drugs destruction enquiries email : [email protected]

NHS England London Region Destruction Process: 

The NHS England London Region CDAO has adopted a novel approach to the management of CD destructions to develop a sustainable and timely system for everyone’s mutual benefit.  This will involve authorising, where appropriate, a healthcare professional from within the organisation to act as an Authorised Person, for a defined length of time at a specified premises.

To apply for this, please create an account with CD Reporting  here  and follow the process after registration.

You MUST NOT act as an Authorised Person until you have received an authority (electronically) from the CDAO.

Once the form is completed and received the CDAO will, in many circumstances, designate the applicant an authorised person for the purposes of witnessing the destruction of controlled drugs.  The authorisation will be for a very short time and limited to the premises to which the application relates.  This will allow the CDs to be denatured at a convenient time, promptly and without the additional burden of waiting for a third party Authorised Person to attend – which has led to delays and operational difficulties in the past.

Please note:

• The proposed Authorised Person MUST be a fully registered healthcare professional.
• If the organisation operates as a sole trade, the sole trader may NOT act as the Authorised Person.
• This form is NOT for multiple groups consisting of five or more premises.  Please contact [email protected] for alternative arrangements if you are a multiple.

Please ensure that you work through this  pre-request checklist before submitting your application (this does not need to be submitted). Please also refer to the Royal Pharmaceutical Society, Medicines, Ethics & Practice methods of denaturing controlled drugs guidance here.