Dear Ministry of Health,

I would like to request information in adverse events specifically related to chronic pain, as the US has had an explosion of Opiate over prescriptions, and a high number of deaths, (currently estimated at 17k Per year) due to the structure in NZ for prescriptions with Pharmac this explosion of overuse of opiates is not mirrored directly in NZ.

Since 2004 how many deaths have been attributable to overdose on opiates, or opiates in combination another class of drug?

Of these deaths, how many were patients identified as suffering from a chronic pain disorder, and overdosed on legitimately prescribed opiates, instead of recreational/abuse deaths, IE Heroin, diverted medications etc.

Since 2004 How many emergency administrations of Naloxone have been conducted for Opiate overdose in NZ.

Of these administrations of Naloxone, how many were patients identified as suffering from a chronic pain disorder, and having legitimate instead of recreational/abuse overdoses, IE Heroin etc.

Are low Oxygen saturation events recorded? If so, what is the threshold for an event to be recorded?
Could I please have an annual count of low oxygen saturation events (close calls with overdose) attributable to Opiates, or Opiates in combination with another class of drug, which occurred in patients who were not undergoing surgery at the time of the vent eg, Emergency departments, Orthopedic and Neuro wards trying to manage patient analgesia.

Could all of these statistics please be broken down to annual scores so that trends can be observed over time.

Yours faithfully,

Shane Le Brun