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Naloxone: Police officers and fire fighters will be trained to use the life-saving spray.By Bill Heaney
Police officers across Scotland will be given a life-saving nasal spray which can help treat people who have overdosed.
Chief Constable Iain Livingstone has announced that more than 12,000 officers will be trained and equipped with naloxone following successful trial runs in Dundee, Falkirk, Glasgow, Stirling and Caithness.
During the trial, the kits helped provide first aid 62 times to people who had overdosed on opioids such as heroin.
It comes as the number of drugs-related deaths in Scotland has risen over the years, reaching 1339 in 2020.
Chief Constable Livingstone said: “I know the terrible toll of drugs deaths in Scotland and policing is committed to playing our part in reducing the harm caused to individuals, families and communities.“We have a vital role in preventing drugs from reaching our streets and bringing those engaged in serious and organised crime to justice and that will always be a key duty and priority for Police Scotland.
“Preservation of life, keeping people safe, lies right at the heart of policing. We have a purpose and remit which goes beyond law enforcement. We have a positive legal duty to improve the lives of our communities. Equipping and training officers with naloxone will contribute to that mission.”
The chief constable added: “Policing is so often the service of first and last resort; the service first on the scene; the service which responds to crisis and criticality. Where a person is suffering an overdose, Naloxone nasal-spray can be given safely by officers with no adverse effects.
“It is absolutely essential that where naloxone is used by an officer to help people in crisis, professional medical attention continues to be provided from ambulance service colleagues and others. In addition, it is crucial that timely and sustainable support is available to provide treatment for those suffering addiction.“I’m grateful to all the officers who stepped forward during the trial to carry naloxone and help their fellow citizens when they needed it.”
During the trial period, 808 officers were trained to use naloxone, with 81% volunteering to carry the nasal spray kits.
An independent academic review conducted between March and October 2021, during which Naloxone was used 51 times, recommended a national roll-out.
The review was coordinated by the Scottish Institute for Policing Research (SIPR) at Napier University in Edinburgh.
Professor Nadine Dougall, one of the team’s co-investigators, said: “Our evaluation has shown that there is significant potential benefit in training and equipping police officers with naloxone nasal spray as part of emergency first aid until ambulance support arrives.
“Many police officers told us they are often the first to attend people who have overdosed, and they greatly valued the potential to save lives in this way.
“People with personal experience of overdose also agreed naloxone should be carried by police officers but were keen to stress that naloxone was only a part of a solution to address drug-related deaths.”All officers within response, community, and other roles including dog handlers, armed police, public order and road policing up to and including the rank of Inspector will be trained and equipped.
Other officers and members of staff are also free to undertake training.
Firefighters are also being offered the chance to become trained and equipped to help prevent drug deaths.
They will be able to volunteer to carry naloxone – a nasal spray which can reverse the effects of an opioid overdose – as part of a £90,000 project funded by the Scottish Government.
The Scottish Fire and Rescue Service (SFRS) will join the Scottish Ambulance Service and Police Scotland in recognising the role the medication can play in saving lives.
A naloxone information pack will be available to all SFRS staff. Firefighters who volunteer to undergo training to carry and deploy naloxone will be given guidance on how to identify the signs and symptoms of an opioid overdose and how to use the medication to reverse these effects.
The Service will seek volunteers from around the country to create a wide network of staff who are able to administer naloxone.
First Minister Nicola Sturgeon said: “I want to thank the Scottish Fire and Rescue Service for the incredible job they do every day to save lives.
“SFRS staff regularly interact with the public during operational incidents, prevention and protection work and community engagement and it is reassuring to know that if they come across a situation involving an opioid overdose that volunteers will be able to administer naloxone while they wait for an ambulance to arrive.
“Naloxone is one of a wide range of measures being used to address the public health emergency of drugs deaths, but it plays an important role and allows those administering the kits to connect people who use drugs and their families with appropriate local services.
“Of course, we want to help people long before they get to the point of a life-threatening overdose and we are working hard to increase the number of people in treatment backed by total funding of £250 million over five years.”
Assistant Chief Officer Stuart Stevens is the SFRS Director of Service Delivery. He said: “We welcome funding from the Scottish Government to provide life-saving medication for some of the most vulnerable people in our communities.
“We will fully support volunteers within SFRS to complete training to safely administer naloxone to help prevent avoidable drug deaths from overdoses. This project highlights our commitment to working with partners to improve the safety and wellbeing of the people of Scotland.”
SFRS Group Commander Paul Blackwood decided to carry naloxone after a personal tragedy. He said: “I grew up in Glasgow and I lost my best friend at the age of 19 from a drugs overdose. This traumatic experience has stayed with me and so it was important for me to volunteer to carry naloxone. I have the kit because I want to be in a position to save someone’s life.”
With Police officers very often the first on the scene of an incident where someone may be in medical extremis is there not an initiative to consider giving training to police in the administration of emergency aid.
Clearly police will not have the skill and equipment of fully trained emergency para medics but sometimes some immediate and proportionate stabilisation, as this naloxone proposal is, is better than no intervention.
Indeed, is there not a case for all police cars to carry some form of medical kit such as defibrillator, oxygen or other.
Maybe not all police would volunteer for the training but many might and like the naloxone proposal intervention could be the difference between life and death. Something maybe to consider.