Publication of the ACMD report into the availability and use of naloxone

The Advisory Council on the Misuse of Drugs (ACMD) has published a report reviewing the availability and use of naloxone in the UK, a drug used to reverse opioid overdose.

The advice follows a self-commission by ACMD members in 2019 after a small rise in opioid overdose-related deaths.

The report outlines evidence that administration of naloxone leads to a reduction in these types of deaths, however it also concluded that more work is needed to increase the availability and use of this drug.

The report has made the following recommendations to government:

1. Improve the quality of data on take-home naloxone and ensure local authority commissioners monitor how it is provided by service providers.

2. Further research should be undertaken to see how those at risk of overdose can more easily access take-home naloxone.

3. Good examples of partnership working cited in the report should be used to model naloxone programmes across the UK.

4. Prison services should ensure people being released from prison who are at high-risk of overdosing have access to take-home naloxone.

5. Additional training for police in the holding and administration of naloxone should be provided and police services should register to gain required exemptions to supply take-home naloxone.

6. Hospitals, mental health trusts and ambulance services should deliver take-home naloxone and training to those at risk of overdose. Guidance should be updated to include appropriate recommendations on naloxone provision.

7. There should be arrangements across the UK which allow community pharmacies to deliver take-home naloxone and intervention on managing opioid overdoses.

The ACMD has previously reviewed the use and availability of naloxone in 2012 and recommended it to be made more widely available.

In 2015 the government introduced changes to the Human Medicines Amendment Regulations (2012) which expanded the availability of naloxone in the UK, but this report hopes to encourage a further increase in naloxone availability and use.

ACMD chair Professor Owen Bowden-Jones said:

We are pleased to share today our findings on take-home naloxone. Naloxone is a life-saving medication and it is crucial that it is easily available to people at risk. Only a national, cross-sector approach will achieve this.

We look forward to the Government response to this report and our findings.

Read the ACMD naloxone review.