Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps he is taking to help support patients to phase out the use of prescribed opioids following surgery.

NHS England and NHS Improvement are implementing the recommendations in the ‘Dependence and withdrawal associated with some prescribed medicines: An evidence review’, published in September 2019 by Public Health England. As part of this programme, the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence published a guideline on chronic pain and is planning to publish a guideline on medicines associated with dependence or withdrawal symptoms in 2022.

NHS England and NHS Improvement are developing a ‘framework for action’ to support integrated care systems and partners to optimise the delivery of personalised care for patients at risk of or experiencing prescribed drugs dependence or withdrawal. In addition, NHS England and NHS Improvement plan to launch resources relating to the use of opioids and are working with NHS Digital to improve the quality of information available to patients on NHS.UK.