Prescriptions

Our traditional medical model of care, focusing on ‘pain-relief’ medication, is redundant and we need to take a biopsychosocial approach to managing pain.  Analgesics do have a role in managing pain, but there is no evidence for the efficacy of high dose opioids drugs (>120mg/day morphine equivalent) in long term pain. The Faculty of Pain Medicine has advised that increasing opioid load above this dose is unlikely to yield further benefits but exposes the patient to increased.

Despite this, Public Health England figures published in 2019 showed that in 2017- 2018, 540,000 adults in England were prescribed opioid pain medicines for > 3 years. High-Risk dependency forming medication is not limited to Opioids, Benzodiazepines, Z drugs for sleep and neuropathic analgesics such as Gabapentin and Pregabalin bring with them risks of addiction.

There are still indications for using these medications short term. The surgery team is dedicated to trying to manage chronic pain differently and to support those who are taking these medications long term to reduce and look at alternative ways of managing pain.

What Is the surgery doing to reduce prescribing of these high-risk drugs?

Performed internal audits to look at when these drugs were prescribed and what information patients were given about side-effects and risks.

We strive to inform patients of the risks of addiction and side-effects on commencement.

We have identified patients who are taking high dose opioids or more than one dependency forming medication and will be inviting them to have a focused medication review where alternative management can be explored.

We are using the multidisciplinary team, pharmacists, community pain team and Horizons to support patients reducing doses of dependency forming medications.

We will be discussing our findings with our Primary Care Network (PCN) colleagues to share ways other surgeries are supporting patients.

If you are concerned about your prescribed medication or would like support with reducing please book a GP or Pharmacist appointment.

To avoid patients coming into the surgery, our Pharmacists are assessing patients’ medication reviews that are due and where appropriate patients will be telephoned at home.

Take it to the pharmacy you got it from or bring it in to the surgery. Do not put it in your household bin or flush it down the toilet.