Finding a Needle in a Haystack: Take-Home Naloxone in England 2017/18

This report updates Release’s previous reporting on ‘Take-home Naloxone in England: 2016/17’ and presents novel findings on take-home naloxone provision in custodial settings, such as in prisons, across England for the period 2017/18.

Release surveyed each of the 152 local authority areas in England, as local authorities are responsible for commissioning drug services, which give out take-home naloxone. The report includes findings on the availability of take-home naloxone across local authority areas, the scale of take-home naloxone supply in community settings, and coverage among people who use opiates and opiate clients in drug treatment.

Release also collected information on take-home naloxone in 109 prisons across England. This report also includes findings on the prisons giving out take-home naloxone to people when they are reelased from their custody.

The report mainly highlights national-level findings on take-home naloxone. For findings on provision, coverage, and availability of take-home naloxone in each local authority and prison in England, please refer to the interactive maps below.

Read the press release here.

Download the full report here: Finding a Needle in a Haystack: Take-Home Naloxone in England 2017/18

 

 

 

Maps Key

Community Provision: The map represents local authorities that did, or did not, give out take-home naloxone in the local area. Please note that some local authorities may have introduced take-home naloxone programmes since information was collected between August 2018 and January 2019, such as in Bracknell Forest and North East Lincolnshire where they reportedly had plans to do so.

Community Coverage: The map represents estimated coverage of take-home naloxone among people who use opiates and opiate clients in drug treatment. Each local authority is colour coded according to the number of take-home naloxone kits given out in the 2017/18 financial year per 100 people using opiates in the area, with coverage ranging from 0 to 33 per cent. As the shelf-life of Prenoxad (i.e. injectable naloxone) is 36 months from the point of manufacture to expiry, we would expect at least 33 per cent coverage in a given year, 66 per cent over 2 years and 100 per cent over 3 years.

Where data was available at the local authority level, the following is also reported: coverage among people who use opiates over 2 years (i.e. cumulative take-home naloxone kits given out between 2016/17 and 2017/18 per 100 people using opiates); coverage among people who use opiates over 3 years (i.e. cumulative take-home naloxone kits given out between 2015/16 and 2017/18 per 100 people using opiates); and coverage among opiate clients in drug treatment in 2017/18 (NDTMS); and percentage of all active opiate clients in treatment (CGL) that have either offered and accepted a naloxone kit, or already have a kit (as at January 2019). Please note that the community treatment coverage (CGL) reported in Kent represents West Kent only. Please refer to the Methodological Appendix in the full report for more information on estimating coverage of take-home naloxone.

Community Availability: The map represents the availability of take-home naloxone to target groups (i.e. people likely to experience or witness an opioid-related overdose). These target groups were: Clients accessing Needle and Syringe Programmes (NSP); Opioid Substitution Therapy (OST) patients; Clients leaving community/residential/inpatient opioid detoxification; Clients accessing community pharmacies, such as for NSP and OST services; People in contact with outreach services for homeless populations; and Family/friends/carers of individuals ‘at risk’ of an opioid-related overdose. Each local authority is colour coded according to the number of target groups given take-home naloxone in the area. Where the local authority identified ‘other groups’ that were given take-home naloxone, these are also reported.  

Prison Provision: The map represents prisons that did, or did not, give out take-home naloxone to people when they are released from their custody. Please note that some prisons may have introduced take-home naloxone programmes since information was collected between September 2018 and January 2019.

 

Download the full report here: Finding a Needle in a Haystack: Take-Home Naloxone in England 2017/18