Emergency Naloxone Holding Service
The Scottish Drug Death Taskforce stated that “all community pharmacies should hold naloxone for administration in an emergency and should also be able to supply take home naloxone (THN) to people who use drugs, families and anyone likely to witness an opioid overdose”. The emergency naloxone supply service was added to the community pharmacy Public Health Service from 30th October 2023.
The service aim of emergency naloxone holding service is to contribute to a reduction in drug related deaths within Scotland by providing overdose awareness training for community pharmacy teams, naloxone for immediate emergency supply and emergency administration from community pharmacies across Scotland. Immediate emergency supply of naloxone will be made from the pharmacy premises while emergency administration may occur within or out with pharmacy premises.
In order to comply with the service, there should be two naloxone kits stocked in the pharmacy, and these should be easily accessible. This can be in any combination as long as there are two kits stocked. The only naloxone kits that should be used for the service are Prenoxad (intramuscular injection), Nyxoid or Naloxone 1.26mg (nasal sprays).
How to claim for Emergency Naloxone Holding Service
The community pharmacy contractor will ensure that each emergency supply of naloxone is recorded via Universal Claims Framework (UCF). The UCF is the system that you will use to claim for other services – such as smoking cessation and emergency hormonal contraception. The service will be included as an option under Public Health Services. There will be two options:
- Emergency Naloxone Administered – which will cover when naloxone has been supplied or administered for immediate emergency use.
- Emergency Naloxone Expired – for when naloxone has expired.
If the details of the person experiencing the overdose is known, it is encouraged to record the supply on their Patient Medication Record (PMR). If the patient details are not known, there is an option to record under a “dummy” pharmacy record. This is summarised below:
To submit a claim for out of date naloxone kits, or to claim for a resupply when a kit has been used and the patient is not known to you, you will have to create a dummy patient file on your PMR. We suggest using the following details for ease, though please note that these don’t have to be exact, it just helps in validating the claim. The important part is using the correct UCF service, which will either be “Emergency Naloxone – Administered” or “Emergency Naloxone – Expired”.
Forename: Naloxone
Surname: Naloxone
DOB: 01/01/2000
Address: 1 Any Street, NF1 1AB
Training
It is recommended that all community pharmacists and pharmacy staff who issue supplies of naloxone must have completed the three Pharmacy Naloxone Service TURAS modules.
For pharmacies without access to TURAS: training can be accessed directly from the Scottish Drug Forum – Overdose Prevention, Intervention and Naloxone e-learning – Scottish Drugs Forum (sdftraining.org.uk). Please note, a FREE account will need to be created.