“A new partnership between NHS Fife, charity With You and local pharmacies” has seen the number of naloxone kits distributed by community pharmacies across Fife increase by at least 326% year-on-year, NHS Fife yesterday (February 27) revealed.
Naloxone can be used to reverse the effects of an opioid overdose in an emergency “by interrupting opioid receptors in the body”, it said.
In May, the UK government greenlit new take-home naloxone rules, allowing “registered pharmacy professionals” to supply the drug to individuals for future use.
The expanded rules “saw representatives from NHS Fife’s pharmacy service working alongside harm reduction charity, With You, to provide face-to-face training for community pharmacy staff”, NHS Fife said.
Read more: Pharmacies set to supply take-home naloxone without a prescription
“The training is intended to educate pharmacy staff to know how and when to intervene with naloxone in response to an overdose,” it added.
“Over 60 pharmacies have signed up to the take-home naloxone service, with over 300 pharmacy staff from across Fife having already received training,” it said.
“The development of the service saw 230 naloxone kits distributed by community pharmacies between April to December 2024, compared to 54 across the whole of the previous financial year,” it added.
“Lives have been saved”
NHS Fife’s addiction services’ senior pharmacy technician for substance use Jamie Anderson said that “the high numbers of people experiencing drug-related harms in Scotland is well-documented, and the issue affects us here in Fife just as it does elsewhere in the country”.
“Since the launch of the service last year we have seen numerous examples of where lives have been saved directly through the distribution of these kits from community pharmacies,” he added.
“With the number of participating pharmacies still increasing, we want to go further still to reduce the harms caused by opioid overdoses,” he said.
Read more: Naloxone service launches at all Scottish community pharmacies
St Andrews Dears Pharmacy pharmacy manager Rebekah Drysdale added that “from the outset, Dears Pharmacy have been really keen to get involved in the training programme”.
The multiple “was one of the early adopters of the programme, with 16 branches across Fife already participating”, NHS Fife said.
“Our staff feel better able to identify who would benefit from the naloxone kits, and how they should be administered if they are needed in an emergency,” Drysdale added.
Read more: Will expanding access to naloxone OTC be the right move?
“Our goal is to reduce the stigma surrounding overdose,” said With You naloxone co-ordinator for Fife, Danielle Wong.
“Those who use opioids, both illicit and prescribed, often come into contact with their local pharmacies, so it is important that pharmacies stock naloxone and staff are confident having conversations around overdose risk,” she added.
Naloxone latest
In October 2023, Scotland launched a nationwide pharmacy naloxone service meaning all Scottish pharmacies now hold “at least” two naloxone kits.
The Scottish government provided funding to the tune of £300,000 to support the roll out of the scheme.
Read more: ‘No role for pharmacists’ in UK’s first safe drug consumption room
In August 2023, staff at Sheffield’s Wicker Pharmacy prevented two overdose deaths just a week after receiving naloxone training.
