In partnership with local authorities and commissioned substance misuse service providers in North Yorkshire and Middlesbrough, our teams will carry Naloxone as part of a 12-month pilot to help prevent drug related deaths.
Naloxone is an emergency antidote to an opiate overdose and will be carried by community teams visiting the people in our services who have both mental health and substance misuse needs (dual diagnosis).
Over the past few years Naloxone has become more widely available and is being routinely carried by those who use opioids, their peers and community organisations. More recently this has expanded to some police forces and some acute hospital Trusts.
Catherine Parker, public health consultant at TEWV, said: “This pilot is a great opportunity for organisations to work together to prevent drug-related deaths in areas that have some of the highest rates in the country.
“We are pleased to be piloting carrying Naloxone within our Trust, and if it is successful, we will look to roll it out across other areas of the Trust in the future.”
Rachel Burns, advance public health practitioner- substance misuse from public health South Tees, said: “We have been expanding our approach to Naloxone for a number of years and had great success with our police partners. We are really pleased to bring TEWV into this partnership.”
Craig Bosomworth, harm reduction strategic lead at North Yorkshire Horizons & Public Health, said: “Having our mental health colleagues carry Naloxone helps us to build a collective approach to saving lives.”
Dr Stephen Donaldson, principal applied clinical psychologist and consultant psychologist for TEWV, said: “We see the harm caused by opioid overdose in our communities and we want to be part of this initiative to help prevent the tragedy of drug related deaths.”
