Naloxone is a first aid medication that can reverse the effects of an opioid overdose. In England, anyone can carry a Naloxone kit and use it in an emergency to save a life. It is available from drug treatment providers and from some pharmacies.
Lincolnshire Recovery Partnership’s Click & Deliver programme will see Naloxone kits being delivered to people at a location of their choice, making it more accessible for people. After filling out a short online form and completing an optional short training session, individuals receive a free Naloxone kit sent through the post in discreet packaging.
The convenience of Click & Deliver can be a support for people who live in rural areas where there is not a service nearby and for those with mobility issues. For some, particularly family members of people at risk of overdose, having the life-saving medication delivered can also reduce the fear of being stigmatised.
Lincolnshire Recovery Partnership is a collaboration between Turning Point, Double Impact and Framework. The service is delivered from six hubs across the county, based in Lincoln, Gainsborough, Spalding, Skegness, Boston and Grantham.
Whilst there are highly successful postal Naloxone services in both Scotland and Wales, one of the Lincolnshire Recovery Partnership’s organisations, Turning Point, launched the first service in England with a pilot scheme at its Somerset Drug and Alcohol Service (SDAS), in August 2023 and a second location, Herefordshire, was added in July of this year. The scheme proved to be highly-successful and the service is now being rolled out across all Turning Point locations.
In April this year, the Somerset service sent out their 100th Naloxone kit, which went to a family member of someone at risk of an overdose. To date, the two services have sent out over 200 kits with at least four of these kits used to reverse an overdose and save lives.
One example of a person who has administered Naloxone locally is Nick. Now a member of the team at Lincolnshire Recovery Partnership, he has former lived experience of substance use and saved a friend’s life using the kit. His advice is:
“After smoking heroin, he returned to the room looking deathly pale, sweating and his pupils had shrunk to nothing. Next, he let out what can only be described as a death rattle as if all the lungs in his air had escaped. Luckily I had Naloxone in my bag along with the rest of my kit, I opened it and have him the first of the doses. After what seemed like an age he slowly came around and started to look better. This was my first instance of seeing Naloxone in action and hammered home the importance of always carrying one.
Don’t spend time thinking of the reasons why you should not carry Naloxone. Just think of the one reason you should – it saves lives.”
Deb Hussey, Turning Point’s National Safer Lives Lead, said:
“With the increasing risk from potent synthetic opioids, it’s never been more important to make it as easy as possible for people to access Naloxone. By removing the barriers experienced by some, Click & Deliver helps us raise awareness and make sure we’re getting naloxone into the hands of the people who need it.”
Adam Sutcliffe, Senior Operations Manager at Lincolnshire Recovery Partnership, said:
“Naloxone saves lives, it’s as simple as that. The introduction of the Click & Deliver service ensures that people can access this vital medication anywhere in Lincolnshire, no matter where they live or what their individual circumstances are. You should think of Naloxone in the same way you do a defibrillator - if you have Naloxone on you, you can potentially save someone's life.”