This 1-year pilot commenced on the 17th May 2021.OneNorwich Practices are working in partnership with the Drug and Alcohol Liaison Team at NNUH to address the increasing dependence on prescribed opioids. Norwich has been identified as a national outlier in terms of opioid prescribing according to national data. 

The project commenced initially in the West neighbourhood at Wensum and Bacon Road Practices as they were identified as being in the highest percentiles. This has now been extended to Lakenham Surgery in the Central neighbourhood.

Suitable patients have been identified using the following eligibility criteria;

●     Patients prescribed opioids for CNCP (chronic non-cancer pain) at 120mg Morphine equivalent or above.

●     Elderly Patients prescribed Opioids and have had a fall.

●      Additional Nurse led service with specialist input on an as ‘required basis’ for those patients with pain issues using opioids that need further expert advice/ assessment to prevent escalation.

The Specialist Drug and Alcohol nurse has also commenced joint clinics with one of the Clinical Pharmacists which is working really effectively.

Baseline data has been collated for each practice on an individual patient basis including demographics, medications, medication doses, medical history, pain and wellbeing scores. This data will be reviewed on a quarterly basis to measure progress. The nurse will also write up some case studies to present along with this data.