The supply of ‘Take Home Naloxone’ (THN) was initiated (pilot project) in 2009 as a harm reduction tool used to prevent fatal opioid poisonings, and has since been fully implemented across all health boards in Wales. This report provides data on the training and provision of THN kits from 49 registries across Wales recorded on the Harm Reduction Database Wales (HRD) during the period 1st April 2015 to 31st March 2016.

In recent years, there have been substantial increases in the number of people dying in the UK where illicit drugs are reported to be involved in their death. The largest increase has been in deaths related to the misuse of opioid substances; 2,677 opioid-related deaths were registered in the UK in 2015. The Advisory Council on the Misuse of Drugs (ACMD) therefore set up a dedicated working group to examine how to reduce drug-related deaths, with a focus on opioid-related deaths.