1 Min In Member News
The Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC), the Department of Health in Northern Ireland (NI DOH), the Scottish Government and the Welsh Government have opened a consultation on proposals to widen access to naloxone without a prescription.
Naloxone is a life-saving medicine that reverses the effects of an opioid overdose. Anyone can administer naloxone in an emergency but currently only drug treatment services can legally supply it to an individual for future use.
In response, APTUK have released the following statement:
APTUK welcome the consultation on expanding access to take-home Naloxone supplies. Pharmacy Technicians as registered autonomous pharmacy professionals with their knowledge on opioids and controlled drugs will also be able to counsel on harm reduction. The expansion of access to Naloxone is essential in light of workforce challenges.
For more information and to respond to the consultation, please follow this link: Proposals to expand access to take-home naloxone supplies - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)
The consultation will close at 11:59pm on 6 March 2024.
If you would like to know more about this topic, APTUK ran a webinar on the 22nd February 2024, with Katherine Watkinson MAPharmT, Head of Medicines Optimisation and Pharmacy at Turning Point, to understand what this means for our profession, pharmacy services and most crucially, those who access the service.
A recording of the webinar is now available to APTUK members. Log into the website and click on the image to watch the recording.
