Question reference: S6W-26085
- Asked by: Jackie Baillie, MSP for Dumbarton, Scottish Labour
- Date lodged: 11 March 2024
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Current status: Answered by Christina McKelvie on 25 March 2024
Question
To ask the Scottish Government what steps it (a) is taking and (b) will take to ensure that any barriers to (i) full-time and (ii) volunteer firefighters carrying and administering naloxone to treat opioid overdoses are removed.
Answer
The Scottish Fire and Rescue Service (SFRS) naloxone programme was launched in February 2022, backed with investment of £89,000 from Scottish Government. The programme aims to establish a network of fire officers who will carry naloxone and be trained to administer it in the event of an emergency.
Since then, all SFRS staff have been invited to complete online training to learn more about drug deaths in Scotland and how naloxone can help someone in the event of an opioid overdose. To date, 3,379 out of all 7,619 staff have voluntarily completed the training.
There is additional training for Flexi Duty Officers (FDOs) who have volunteered to carry naloxone and there are now 31 trained FDO volunteers within SFRS who are able to do this. It is expected that over the next 6 weeks a further 130 FDO volunteers will be trained and equipped to carry and administer naloxone.
The carrying and administering Naloxone is considered by the Fire Brigades Union (FBU) to be a form of emergency medical response which currently sits out-with the role map of firefighters. SFRS has a desire to broaden the role of firefighters which would incorporate emergency medical response but this is dependent on reaching agreement with the FBU.
SFRS and Scottish Government are determined to fully implement this programme and will continue to work closely with all parties, including representative bodies, to overcome any barriers to its full implementation.