Temazepam (CAS 846-50-4): storage and disposal

Live dispensing stock is what it must be kept apart from once it is surplus, because a date expired pack back in circulation is the mistake that matters. Inside the locked controlled drugs arrangement, give expired and returned tablets their own marked shelf or box, and keep the register or stock record current for them. Patient returns are especially worth separating, as a bag of mixed medicines may hide a strip or two among ordinary stock. Keep the location dry and the packs in their original cartons, so that batch numbers and dates stay readable. A clinic with a small holding should ask the responsible pharmacist or accountable officer to confirm the arrangement.

Tablets of this kind age quietly, and few visible signs appear before the printed date passes. A chalky surface, crumbling, caking in a loose container, or a colour change after damp would all be reasons to stop trusting a pack. Blisters may split at the foil, and returned packs often lose their outer carton, which takes the batch and expiry details with it. Unidentified tablets in a returned pot are the commonest problem. Comparing their look against a known pack is no proof of what they are, so they should be recorded as unidentified. Beyond that, the printed date and the record are the reliable guide.

This does not go through our standard collection route. It is arranged by manual enquiry, and never goes down the drain or into general waste.

Surplus stock leaves a site by the route that the accountable officer or responsible pharmacist decides, under the Misuse of Drugs Regulations 2001. A general chemical collection does not cover its destruction, so it is not quoted online. Routine Schedule 3 stock destruction does not normally need an authorised witness, although local procedures or particular circumstances may ask for one. Send a manual enquiry instead, and a store assessment is recommended. In a healthcare setting 18 01 09 would normally be the code. Separate the count into date expired stock and patient returns, and give the strengths and pack sizes, because reconciling those against the record is the slow part. Leave everything in its locked place until advised, and do not tip tablets into a bin or sink to tidy the shelf.

Usually held as: tablets.

Tell us the container size and how many you hold. An estimate is enough to start with, and some items cannot be priced until someone has looked at them.