Averting a UK opioid crisis: getting the public health messages ‘right’ (30 March 2022)

Summary

Deaths from opioids have increased in England and Wales, despite recognition of their harms. Coroners’ Prevention of Future Death reports (PFDs) provide important insights that may enable safer use and avert harms, yet these reports involving opioids have not been synthesised. Authors of this commentary, published in the Journal of the Royal Society of Medicine, therefore aimed to identify opioid-related PFDs and explore concerns expressed by coroners to prevent future deaths.