Britain in as poison
MORE than 40,000 hospital admissions were caused by opioid poisoning last year amid warnings that Britain is in the grip of an escalating crisis.
It follows a report showing online pharmacies are prescribing the powerful painkillers without consulting a GP in a breach of new regulations.
NHS Digital figures reveal the number of hospital admissions linked to opioid poisoning soared over the past 12 years from 16,188 in 2006-7 to 42,511 between 2018 -19. A small proportion were linked to heroin, which rose from 2,291 hospitalisations in 2006-7 to 4,210 between 2018-19.
The rest included all opioids such as tramadol, fentanyl, oxycodone, diamorphine and codeine and forms of morphine.
The figures do not state if these were prescribed by a doctor, bought from an online pharmacy or illegally obtained. But prescriptions for the powerful painkilling drugs are at record levels.
NHS Digital data shows the number of opioids dispensed has risen by more than 20 per cent the past decade to 40.5 million last year. Around 2,000 fatalities a year, more than five a day, are blamed on the painkillers, up by 41 per cent from 10 years ago.
Opioids are designed to be taken for days or, at most, weeks and are known by health professionals to be deadly if abused.
Nuno Albuquerque, of UK Addiction Treatment Centre, one of the country’s largest drug treatment centres, said: “There have been systemic cuts to drug treat