Naloxone

Take Home Naloxone in the UK

Naloxone (provided under the brand names Prenoxad and Nyxoid in the UK) is a medication used to reverse opioid overdose. Since 2015, this medication has been more widely available in the UK as a 'take home' emergency medication.

Find out more

NALOXONE.ORG.UK

This website aims to be a hub for information, guidance, news and research on Take Home Naloxone (THN). The main focus is on THN in the UK, although we have included select pieces of information on the supply of naloxone internationally.

Frequently Asked Questions

How to put someone in the recovery position

PHE Guidance

Updated 18 February 2019
Public Health England have released updated guidance on take home naloxone in the UK, entiled 'Widening the Availability of Naloxone'. This can be found on the PHE website.
  • Drug services can supply naloxone without a prescription
  • Products that drug services can supply
  • Responsibility for deciding who can supply naloxone
  • People who can be supplied naloxone by a drug service
  • Using naloxone to save a person’s life without their permission
  • Clinical governance in drug treatment services
  • Guidance for hostels, homeless shelters and housing associations
  • Side effects associated with naloxone
View Guidance

ddressing co-occurring public health emergencies: The importance of naloxone distribution in the era of COVID-19

Written on . Posted in Research

Until recently, the overdose crisis has been at the forefront of public health efforts in the United States (US). However, with the COVID-19 pandemic and rapid rise in cases across the country, attention has quickly shifted at the federal and state levels from overdose response to minimizing the spread of COVID-19. Rapid public health approaches have been implemented across jurisdictions, including widespread business closures, transitions to telemedicine, temporary closures of parks, and social distancing orders. While necessary to flatten the epidemiological curve of the pandemic, these public health approaches have largely failed to account for the unintended consequences such policies have on structurally vulnerable populations, including people who use drugs (PWUD).

More research  

ACMD young people’s drug use and naloxone provision

Following advice in response to COVID-19, 3 public evidence gathering days which were being arranged by the ACMD to inform reports on young people’s drug use and naloxone provision have been postponed until further notice. We are instead inviting relevant stakeholders to provide written submissions to help support these workstreams.

More Details

News/Updates

Middle-aged generation most likely to die by suicide and drug poisoning

Written on . Posted in Research, Updates

A generation of people born in the 1960s and 1970s, known as Generation X, are dying from suicide or drug poisoning in greater numbers than ever. ONS data for England and Wales has shown that in the late 1980s to early 1990s, the age at which most people died by taking their own lives or drug poisoning was concentrated around this generation, when they were in their 20s.

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

Written on . Posted in Research, Updates

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.

Mobile Injection Equipment Provision van is saving lives across Glasgow

Written on . Posted in Press

Over 49 consecutive nights throughout the pandemic, staff provided an immediate response for 155 individuals; supplied 162 individuals with naloxone and administered naloxone on three occasions to reverse potentially fatal drug overdoses.

This website has been made possible through the provision of an arm length/unrestricted educational grant from Ethypharm. Ethypharm do not control and are not liable for any of the content placed, or any of the claims that may be made, on this site.

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