Controlled drugs on veterinary home visits

This is the question most often asked quietly and least often answered in writing. The RCVS guidance does cover it, and the requirements are specific.

In the vehicle

The baseline duty is to "take reasonable steps to minimise unauthorised access", using professional judgement about the risk: how visible the vehicle is, where it is parked, how long it is left.

Beyond that general duty, the RCVS is concrete. Schedule 2 and Schedule 3 controlled drugs carried in practice vehicles should be kept in a locked receptacle fixed within the vehicle, and that receptacle should be kept out of sight. A bag on the back seat does not meet this.

While you are on duty, you should avoid leaving the locked receptacle unattended, and any unattended time should be kept to a minimum. When you go off duty, controlled drugs should be returned to the practice cabinet overnight where practicable.

The register nobody expects

This is the requirement that catches people out. A vet who stores controlled drugs in a vehicle for any period must keep a separate controlled drugs register for that vehicle.

There is an exception, and it is narrower than it sounds: it does not apply where drugs from the practice register are briefly taken off the premises for a specific visit and brought back. Briefly taking out and returning is different from keeping a working stock in the car.

If your model is genuinely mobile, with drugs living in the vehicle between visits, plan for a vehicle register from the start. Registers must be kept at the premises they relate to, available for inspection at any time, with a separate register for each set of premises and each cabinet, retained for at least two years after the last entry.

Schedule 2 versus Schedule 3

The practical point: Schedule 3 falling outside the Safe Custody Regulations does not mean it can be left loose. The RCVS requirement to lock it away stands either way.

Cabinet requirements at base

Wherever your fixed store is, including a registered home address, the cabinet should be in a secure place away from public view, in a lockable room not normally accessible to clients. It should be bolted to the wall or floor, ideally double-locked with separate keys, and should not be marked as a controlled drugs cabinet. Keys go to authorised staff only, and it must be kept locked when not in use.

Home euthanasia and veterinary nurses

One point deserves emphasis because it bears directly on how home visit work is organised.

A prescribing veterinary surgeon may direct a nurse to administer a controlled drug for euthanasia, and in practice the prescribing vet usually carries out the euthanasia themselves. But the RCVS is explicit about the home visit case: it is not appropriate for a veterinary surgeon to send a veterinary nurse out on a home visit to euthanise an animal with a controlled drug.

If home euthanasia is part of your service, it is attended by the veterinary surgeon.

Before you start

Controlled drugs legislation sits across the Misuse of Drugs Regulations and the Veterinary Medicines Regulations as well as RCVS guidance, and the detail matters. Read VMD Veterinary Medicines Guidance Note 20 in full, and speak to the VMD or the RCVS about your specific arrangement before you put drugs in a car.