The Medicine Safety Improvement Programme (MedSIP) is part of the National Patient Safety Strategy. The programme aims to address the most important causes of severe harm associated with medicines, most of which have been known about for years but continue to challenge the health and care systems in England.
One of the current priorities within the MedSIP programme is reducing harm from prescribed opioid medicines used in chronic pain.
Management of ‘chronic non-cancer pain’ requires personalised care and shared decision making at its core with patients requiring a mixture of biopsychosocial support so that they can live well with pain. Opioids are a highly effective class of analgesics and, when used judiciously, are of great benefit to many people living with pain. However, in the case of ‘chronic non-cancer pain’, when the source of long-term pain does not have a cause that can be treated, opioids can do more harm than good, particularly when used at higher doses.
