Dr Cathy Stannard
Cathy was a Consultant in Pain Medicine for 23 years and is now works for NHS Gloucestershire CCG. She writes and lectures widely on aspects of pain management, evidence, and opioid therapy in particular and the implications for public health. Cathy contributes to the work of PHE, MHRA, ACMD, the European Medicines Agency, and the Cochrane collaboration. She is a member of the IASP International Taskforce on Opioids and for the WHO Guideline on Cancer Pain Management. She is Clinical lead for the NICE Guideline on Chronic Pain. She provides in-reach pain services to five prisons in the South West of England and frequently contributes to conversations about pain, opioids and painkiller addiction in both written and broadcast media.
I have no sources of funding.
Addiction to prescribed drugs: What next?
Presentation link: Addiction to prescribed drugs: What next?
Presentation audio: Addiction to prescribed drugs: What next?
Addiction to prescription opioids has been a hot topic in the media over the last year. Many reports conflate the many and complex circumstances that have contributed to the epidemic of opioid misuse in North America and the prescribing of opioids for pain in the UK. For healthcare professionals in the UK classes of medicine other than opioids, notably the gabapentinoids, have come under proper scrutiny as reports of misuse have come to the fore. This presentation will explore what we know about prescribing of medicines that may contribute to addiction and how clinical populations receiving them may be particularly vulnerable to problematic use. The session will conclude with an overview of current initiatives to address addiction to prescribed medicines and highlight some of the underpinning non-clinical influences on misuse of medicines.