Most patients start taking opioid medicines prescribed by their GP, rather than being started by the hospital or specialist. GPs need to take responsibility and action to reduce opioid prescriptions, particularly as the large variation in prescribing is not explained by patient and practice characteristics but by individual GP prescribing habits.1
WE ARE HEADING TOWARDS AN ‘OPIOID EPIDEMIC’
Prescriptions for opioids have increased greatly in the past 10 years. This rise is not explained by increasing numbers of patients with pain but by the changing prescribing patterns of GPs. The cost to the NHS of this rise runs into hundreds of millions, not only for the increased opioid costs, but also the costs …