Opioid analgesics

Long-term opioid prescribing rates rose by almost a third during the COVID-19 pandemic

Exclusive: "Worrying" NHS data show a dramatic escalation in the number of patients prescribed opioids for longer than three months.…

Pharmacies and opioid dependency: working together to better support recovery

One patient in particular led Rachel Britton to discover and develop the role of pharmacists and pharmacy technicians in helping people with opioid dependency.…

‘Think Twice’ campaign cuts unnecessary opioid prescribing for thousands of patients

Researchers discovered that opioid prescribing fell where GPs were given two-monthly feedback about prescribing levels.…

‘Unprecedented’ rise in drug overdoses in England linked with synthetic opioid

Public Health England has issued a National Patient Safety alert warning of a sharp rise in drug overdoses, which have resulted in 16 deaths around the country.…

Naloxone kit supply may have saved almost 1,400 lives in 2020, report finds

There has been a large increase in the uptake of take-home naloxone kits in Scotland, and the emergency antidote for overdoses caused by heroin and other opioids is likely to have saved many lives.…

How I reduced opioid prescribing in my GP practice by more than 450,000mme in less than a year

Deborah Hollywood set about creating a toolkit to reduce opioid doses for patients at her practice, with which she has achieved great success.…

How codeine metabolism affects its clinical use

A deeper understanding of codeine’s unique pharmacokinetic profile is required to ensure the best analgesic outcomes for patients.…

Coroner’s report recommends tightening regulation around forms of codeine and morphine

A report calls for opioids that are prescription-only medicines to be regulated as schedule 3 drugs, to make them harder to access inappropriately.…

How our multidisciplinary approach helped us reduce our practice’s high-dose prescribing by almost half

Senior GP pharmacist Rory Donnelly explains how his practice helped reduce high-dose opioid prescribing by an average of 40%.…

Opioid use in palliative care: selection, initiation and optimisation

Opioids are commonly administered as part of end-of-life care. Pharmacists should know how to select, initiate and optimise opioids to best meet patient needs.…