BOOTS UK PROVIDES POTENTIAL TO SAVE LIVES
New figures from the Northern Ireland Statistics and Research Agency (NISRA) have shown how the drug abuse crisis here is continuing to worsen.
and morphine. N
The total number of deaths - 191 - is more than double the 84 drug-related deaths, which were recorded a decade before in 2009.
Drug-related deaths accounted for 10.1 deaths per 100,000 people in 2019 - 1.2% of all deaths.
Perhaps unsurprisingly, the statistics indicate that notably higher numbers of drug-related deaths occur in areas of deprivation across the province, with those in the most deprived areas of deprivation five times more likely to die from a drug-related death than those in the least deprived areas.
Under regulations that came into force in October 2015, people working in or for drug treatment services can, as part of their role, supply naloxone to others that their drug service has obtained, if it is being made available to save a life in an emergency.
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The main life-threatening effect of heroin and other opiates is to slow down and stop breathing. Naloxone blocks this effect and reverses the breathing difficulties.
Naloxone is a prescription-only medicine, so pharmacies cannot sell it over the counter, but drug services provided by primary care services can supply it without a prescription. And anyone can use it to save a life in an emergency.
This means that a worker in a recognised drug treatment service could supply naloxone for use in an emergency to a family member or friend of a person using heroin, or to an outreach worker for a homelessness service whose clients include people who use heroin.
Pharmacists are often well placed to spot the signs of a drug overdose – primarily since many across Northern Ireland – and indeed the rest of the United Kingdom – are on the ‘front line’ –
ISRA’sigures show how that almost a quarter of all drug-related deaths in Northern Ireland in 2019 involved heroin
Naloxone is the emergency antidote for overdoses caused by heroin and other opiates or opioids (such as methadone, morphine and fentanyl).
particularly when providing drug treatment such as opioid substitution treatments through supervised consumption services or needle and syringe programmes.
Keen to play its part in helping to reduce the incidence of overdose and subsequent drug- related death, in August last year, Boots UK provided a naloxone emergency administration kit to over 1600 stores that offer drug user services, such as supervised consumption and needle exchange.
These stores hold a Prenoxad 1mg/ml injection kit for use in an emergency situation where the pharmacist recognises the signs and symptoms of an opioid overdose in an individual.
The pharmacists are trained to recognise signs of overdose and administer naloxone, as well as provide any basic life support where necessary. Stores offering these services are more likely to be presented with these types of situations and now have the appropriate tools to support and make an intervention and ultimately potentially save a life.
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