Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps he is taking to prevent people from becoming addicted to pain relief medication.
Painkillers including opioids are important to help people manage pain, but they must be treated with caution and the Government is taking action to protect people from addiction and inappropriate prescribing. Public Health England is reviewing problems associated with prescription medicine use, including opioids. In the interim we have introduced prominent addiction warnings for all opioid medicines and are making sure prevention and social prescribing are at the heart of our Long Term Plan to cut down on over-prescribing.