THE lack of specialist support available to people addicted to painkillers has been highlighted in a report into the death of a man in Chelmsford reports the Locl Democracy Reporter.
Michael Barry, who had a long-standing history of mental health problems and illicit drug and alcohol misuse, died aged 46 at Broomfield Hospital from pneumonia.
But an excessive use of codeine was a contributory factor, an inquest ruled.
By the time of his death in 2023, Mr Barry’s use of illicit drugs had significantly diminished. But he had become addicted to prescribed opiate based pain-killing medication following significant surgery he underwent some years before his death.
Mr Barry had attempted to take his own life by overdosing three months prior to his death, but the inquest also concluded there was no evidence he meant to kill himself.
The inquest into Mr Barry’s also found his GP had not been the source of the excessive codeine.
But there is concern that there is no specialist commissioned service available for GPs to which they might refer their patients to manage the reduction of their intake of prescribed dependency-forming medications.
A prevention of future deaths report, from Essex coroner Sean Horstead, highlighted that despite the number of patients addicted to painkillers having significantly increased since the pandemic, partially due to lengthy delays to chronic pain-relieving surgery, there remains no service to help people beat their addiction.
Mr Horstead said: “The evidence confirmed that reduction or cessation of dependency-forming medications needs to be very carefully managed due to the risk of withdrawal symptoms and, in the context of the unchallenged evidence received, requires specialist input and training to maximise the prospects of success and to avoid potentially fatal consequences. The evidence, again unchallenged, was that the continuing absence of such a commissioned service gives rise to the risk of avoidable future deaths.”
Dr Matthew Sweeting, Executive Medical Director at NHS Mid and South Essex said: “I would like to offer our sincere condolences to the family and loved ones of Mr Barry.
“As a health and care system, we are committed to both improving education and training to reduce the overall number of people taking opioids and supporting people who are dependent upon prescribed medication.”
