Sunderland 'draws line in the sand' over opioid addiction as it works to tackle 'Painkiller Capital' title

The artwork on Roker Beach was created by Whitburn woman Jax Higginson, who leads the Sandymental project with her brother.

She was commissioned by the Painkillers Don't Exist campaign, which works to raise awareness of the dangers of taking opioids, such as Codeine and Tramadol, for longer than three months.

It comes as the NHS’s Sunderland Clinical Commissioning Group, along with its County Durham counterpart, have reduced their high-dose opioid pain medication prescriptions by 34% and 17% respectively, ahead of new NICE guidelines due in January.

The NHS has previously called for tighter controls, with Sunderland found to have the second-highest rate of prescriptions for pain medications in England, having previously been top.

The CCGs developed PainkillersDontExist.com to raise awareness and offer support to reduce use through other techniques including physiotherapy, yoga and meditation.

The campaign, launched in October 2019 on Wearside and last March in County Durham, supports medical professionals – including GPs and pharmacists – to have the difficult conversations with patients and advise how to reduce and stop medications safely.

It also helps people and their family and friends recognise the problem.

Ewan Maule, head of medicines optimisation in Sunderland, said: “Side effects like dependence and addiction, personality change, drowsiness and mood swings are all indicators that individuals need to be aware of and we would urge people to discuss their approach to long term pain management with their GP surgery.

“We understand that pain management is not a one-size-fits all approach.

"Simply prescribing opioid painkillers to mask the symptom of pain is no longer the sole method used to treat long term, persistent pain.”

Dr Rory MacKinnon of GP Partner at Bridge View Medical Group, Southwick added: “We now know that our bodies change the way they react to pain over time.

"Three months is a good rule of thumb, when it comes to recognising acute over persistent pain.

"At this point, and often earlier, opioid medication, simply does not achieve sufficient pain relief.

"The answer is rarely to simply increase the dose.

“This is a complex, long standing and multifaceted problem and solutions to address opioid dependency must be complemented by development and funding of other evidence-based treatments and interventions.”

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