Opioid prescriptions in England nearly doubled in 10 years – report

The number of prescriptions for powerful painkillers in England has nearly doubled in 10 years, according to a BBC News investigation.

The rise has prompted doctors to warn that people could be becoming addicted in greater numbers to opioids such as morphine.

According to the BBC investigation, GPs prescribed 23.8m opioids in 2017, the equivalent of 2,700 packs an hour and around 10m more than in 2007.

Opioids are prescribed to treat severe pain only after consultation with a GP or a pain specialist. The family of drugs also includes codeine, tramadol and fentanyl.

Prof Helen Stokes-Lampard, chair of the Royal College of GPs, said doctors took the prescription of any medication very seriously and would never prescribe opioids as a “quick fix”.

Analysis by the BBC suggested around 2.3 million people aged 16-59 in England took a prescription painkiller that had not been prescribed for them in 2016-17.

According to figures from the Office for National Statistics, more than 2,000 of the 3,700 drug-related deaths in England and Wales in 2016 involved an opioid.