Paul Howell MP has welcomed the news that a project has been awarded up to £100,000 to work with organisations in Kent to launch a four-month feasibility study to co-design and prototype an automatic alert system to contact emergency services with GPS location and type of antidote used that is triggered when a naloxone package is opened.
This is one of 12 projects across the UK that have been awarded a share of £5 million to reduce rates of fatal drug overdoses. The projects will operate across all four nations of the UK and range from AI technologies to detect overdoes, to emergency systems using drone technology to delivery antidotes, wearable technologies such as smart watches or breathing monitors to detect overdoes and alert healthcare professionals, family, or members of the community to the need to intervene.
The studies will begin in September. Any of the feasibility studies that show promising results will be able to apply for up to £500,000 grants to carry out follow on 12-month demonstration projects starting in May 2024 to evaluate and collate real world evidence of their technology with people from population groups most at risk of overdose.
This funding supports wider government initiatives to tackle drug misuse in society. The UK’s Drugs Strategy, published in December 2021, has a key objective to prevent 1000 drug deaths in England by 2025. This aligns with work within and across the 4 nations of the UK, to improve systems of support and reduce drug related deaths. The Addiction Mission, as part of this strategy, is aiming to enhance the UK-wide research environment and incentivise the development of innovative and effective new treatments, technologies, and approaches to support recovery, and reduce the harm and deaths addiction can cause.
This challenge is also being delivered in partnership with the Scottish Government as part of their National Mission on Drugs.
Commenting, Paul Howell MP, said:
Drug use has a devastating impact on people’s health, their families and their livelihoods and every year over 4000 people in the UK die from an avoidable drug overdose.
We want to stop people taking these substances and support them to recover from their addictions, while preventing those most at risk from dying from overdoses.
This fund forms part of our healthcare mission programme as we take a Vaccine Taskforce style approach to some of the biggest challenges facing our society today, backed by over £200 million.
