Services Database Supervised Consumption of Methadone, Buprenorphine and Suboxone (East Lancashire Area)

The aims of this service are to:

Ensure compliance with the agreed treatment plan by:

• dispensing prescribed medication in specified instalments;
• ensuring each supervised dose is correctly administered to the service user for whom it was intended (doses may be dispensed for the service user to take away to cover days when the pharmacy is closed);
• liaising with the prescriber, named recovery worker and others directly involved in the care of the service user (where the service user has given written permission);
• monitoring the service user’s response to prescribed treatment, for example, if there are signs of overdose, especially at times when doses are changed, during titration of doses, if the service user appears intoxicated or when the service user has missed doses and if necessary withholding treatment if this is in the interest of the service user safety, liaising with the prescriber or named recovery worker as appropriate;
• improving retention in drug treatment; and
• improving drug treatment delivery and completion.

To reduce the risk to local communities of:

• overuse or under use of medicines;
• diversion of prescribed medicines onto the illicit drugs market; and
• accidental exposure to the dispensed medicines.

Pharmacists involved in the provision of this service must have completed or plan to complete within six months of joining the scheme and completed every three years thereafter the open learning programme ‘Substance use and Misuse’ – pharmacist version (2006) available from the Centre for Pharmacy Postgraduate Education (CPPE) and the CPPE e-assessment ‘Substance use and Misuse’ – delivering pharmacy services (2009). These can both be accessed via www.cppe.man.ac.uk.

If a pharmacist signs up not having completed the open learning programme and e-assessment, they must successfully complete them within 6 months of their being accepted onto the programme.