Naloxone to be made more accessible

Today, the Government has announced that more professionals, including nurses, paramedics, police officers and probation workers, will be able to supply a life-saving opioid overdose treatment without a prescription to save the lives of the most vulnerable.

This means the medicine can be given to a family member or friend of a person who is known to be using opiates – such as heroin or opioids including potent synthetic opioids like fentanyl or nitazenes – or to an outreach worker for a homelessness service working with people who use these drugs, to save lives in the event of an overdose.

Alice Wiseman, ADPH Vice President, welcomed today’s news, saying:

“The move to allow more professionals to provide a take-home supply of naloxone is very welcome news and marks a real turning point in our approach to substance use.

“Sadly, there are increasing numbers of people being sold synthetic opioids, and other adulterated drugs, which can be up to 500 times stronger than heroin and mixed with any number of substances. The result is tragic, with increasing numbers of overdoses and deaths among some of the most vulnerable people in our society.

“Making this treatment available to more people will save lives in much the same way that ensuring epi-pens are available for people with life-threatening allergies has. The important thing now is to make sure that those professionals able to supply it, are given the right training and support so that everyone who needs access to this treatment can access it without facing barriers, and without fear of judgement or recrimination.”

The Government is also publishing a new ten-year strategic plan to expand and improve the drug and alcohol treatment and recovery workforce.

This is the first national workforce plan for this specialist part of the health workforce in England and outlines key milestones to grow, train and develop staff. This will include bringing more new and experienced professionals into the sector and developing better training for roles that are currently unregulated such as drug and alcohol workers.

Alice added:

“Staff on the ground working in this area are extremely dedicated and do an amazing job and, over recent years, we have focussed on recruitment and workforce development in order to support the delivery of high-quality services for this vulnerable patient group. However, the workforce is under immense pressure and deserves more sustainable employment, support, recognition and training.

“This ten-year plan promises to give that recognition and support which is very welcome news, as is the commitment to expanding the workforce to include a wider range of professional expertise.

“It is vital now that we make sure this investment is sustained and that these roles continue to be filled by high quality people long into the future so that people needing treatment receive the very best support to stay healthy long after treatment ends.”