Patient safety alert: suspect heroin batch

A patient safety alert has been issued by Public Health England for heroin with a powerful synthetic opioid, which is causing an higher than normal number of overdoses and deaths across London and the south of England.

The key points of the alert are;

• Consider overdoes in cases where appropriate, to be able to give naloxone as quickly as possible
• The synthetic in theses cases (isotonitazene) is potentially similar potency to fentanyl
• There’s no evidence this synthetic absorbs through the skin, but usual precautions should be used
• Communicate (where possible) during any contact with heroin users the risks of this issue

The full patient safety issued by Public Health England can be found on the PDF below. 

Monday 23 August 2021