Launch of the High Risk Pain Medicines (HRPM) 3 year patient safety programme

Chronic or persistent pain affects at least 1 in 5 people, though recent evidence suggests this may be as high as one third of the adult population with 50% of those affected having their function and quality of life significantly impacted.

👉 Click here to watch a video about the HRPM programme.

In Fife this would equate to 74-123,000 people managing chronic pain. Prescribing of High-Risk Pain Medicines (HRPM) - opioids, gabapentinoids and benzodiazepines - within NHS Fife is consistently above Scottish average as per National Therapeutic Indicators (NTIs); and rate of increase in opioid prescribing was twice the Scottish average in 2019-20. Some of these medications are implicated in NRS Drug Related Deaths (DRDs) which may be fuelled, in part, by the fact that Fife has a significantly higher rate and volume of prescribing.

The development of a strategy to address prescribing of these medicines has been identified as a corporate objective by NHS Fife. As a result, the Executive Directors Group (EDG) agreed to establish a High-Risk Pain Medicines (HRPM) Patient Safety Programme and an initial proposal was approved by EDG in August 2021.

Check this page for regular updates and HRPM news as the programme progresses over the next 3 years.