Drug overdose training given to stop deaths

The drop-in training sessions for administering naloxone are being held across the town

Free drop-in training in administering life-saving treatment is being offered to try to reduce the number of deaths from drugs overdoses.

Hartlepool Borough Council is holding sessions in injecting naloxone, which can quickly reverse the effects of an opioid overdose.

Director of public health Craig Blundred said the town had a "high number" of substance-related deaths each year.

Former addict Craig Whitelock, who attended one of the sessions, credits the drug with saving his life.

Mr Whitelock, who now runs a recovery support group, said he had not taken drugs for 18 years but his £500-a-day habit had led to multiple overdoses.

On his last, paramedics used naloxone.

"My lips were blue, I was medically flatlining, dead,” he said.

“The naloxone reversed it, brought me back.”

Craig Blundred said this was one of a number of measures to tackle the high numbers of drug deaths in the area

The training is open to anyone in the Hartlepool area and takes about five to ten minutes.

Mr Blundred said the town had one of the highest levels of drug related deaths in the country and the numbers had been rising steadily.

"We have around about 14 or so deaths a year," he said.

"One death is one death too many."

The "Nalox-athon" was part of a range of preventative activities the authority was focusing on, he added.

Brenda Harrison described the situation as 'horrendous'

Council leader Brenda Harrison, who also chairs Hartlepool’s Health and Wellbeing Board, said the council was facing a "horrendous situation" with drug overdoses.

"We’ve got to a point where we can't let it go without doing something more drastic," she said.

Running the training sessions was "a very positive way of helping people and helping the whole situation", she added.