Life-saving overdose training given to hundreds

Just some of the 400 people who have received the potentially life-saving training in Bradford

Hundreds of people have been trained to give a life-saving injection if they find drug users who have overdosed in public places.

The You Can Save A Life campaign was launched in March by the New Vision Bradford drug and alcohol service.

It offers free training on how to use medical kits which contain Naloxone, in either injectable or spray form, which can reverse opiate poisoning from drugs like heroin.

Latest figures show that 70 people died from overdoses in Bradford during 2023 compared to 42 a decade earlier in 2013, with many of their deaths seen as avoidable.

Naloxone can be given via an injection or nasal spray

Ricky Moor is New Vision Bradford's project manager for its rough sleepers team.

He said: "There's been more than 400 members of the public trained and a further 1,000 student nurses through a partnership with the university.

"The training is quite straightforward and it does save lives. We have two forms of Naloxone; the injection and the nasal spray.

"The more people that carry it and know how to use it, the better it is for those who one day may need it."

The campaign was developed in partnership with the University of Bradford, Bradford Royal Infirmary, ECHO Fire + Medical and West Yorkshire Police.

Those taking part are given around 20 minutes of training to recognise an opiate overdose and how to administer Naloxone.

Mr Moor has even administered an injection himself to someone who later survived.

He said: "We wouldn't expect a member of the public to just see someone laid out on the pavement and then run over and stick a shot of Naloxone in their leg.

"There are tell-tale signs that we cover in training to make sure that you are more comfortable about what you're about to do."

Mr Moor said Naloxone only worked on opioid overdoses, including those caused by heroin, fentanyl, Spice mixed with an opioid and prescription painkillers.

He said: "It won't harm anyone giving them Naloxone.

"If at the end of the day they're taken away by ambulance there's a chance that the Naloxone did nothing for that person, they might not have needed it.

"But there is also a chance that they might have needed it and you've just saved someone's life."

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