The National Confidential Enquiry into Methadone Related Deaths
(Scotland) 2001 - Final Report (July 2004)
The project was funded by NHS Quality Improvement
Scotland (originally funded by the Clinical Resource and Audit
Group of the Scottish Executive Health Department).
About the Project
This project started in July 1999 and finished in March
2003.
The purpose of this project was to pilot a national confidential
enquiry into methadone-related deaths in Scotland with the aim of
identifying whether there were failures in clinical care, or the
organisation of medical services to patients who suffer a
methadone-related death and, as a consequence, to seek to improve
the clinical care and organisation of medical services to patients
who receive prescribed methadone.
The main questions to be answered were:
- Is there evidence of sub-standard care, either clinical or
organisational, in the prescribing of methadone throughout
Scotland?
- If so, is the confidential enquiry process capable of improving
practice?
This report presents information on methadone-related deaths
occurring in 2001. An earlier report on methadone-related deaths
occurring in 2000 was published in December 2001.
All enquiries about the project or the final report should be
directed, in the first instance to:
Dr Malcolm Bruce, CDPS,
Royal Edinburgh Hospital,
Morningside Place,
Edinburgh EH10 5HF.
E-mail: malcolm.bruce@lpct.scot.nhs.uk
Telephone: 0131 537 8345
Related Work
An enquiry commissioned by the Scottish Executive into all
drug-related deaths in 2003 is currently underway.
Published Date: 01 August 2004
