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HPA - Poisons experts report rise in online enquiries
The Health Protection Agency commissioned National Poisons Information Service has reported a 5.7 percent increase in online enquiries in the year to April 1, 2012.
Figures published in the NPIS annual report, reveal that the service received 578,253 online enquiries last year. The increase in online enquiries was accompanied by a 5.8 percent reduction in telephone enquiries to around 51,000.
NPIS is used by NHS staff for advice on the diagnosis, treatment and care of patients who may have been poisoned. The service has encouraged the use of its online database, TOXBASE, as a first point of call for information with its telephone enquiry service being devoted to the more complex cases.
As in previous years, hospital departments made up a majority of TOXBASE enquiries (66.2 percent) while NHS Direct / NHS 24 were responsible for 24.6 percent of enquiries.
In contrast, telephone enquiries were more evenly distributed across hospital (29.4 percent), primary care (31.6) and NHS Direct / NHS 24 (22.4 percent).
Other key findings in this year’s report include:
- NPIS answered 1,217 telephone enquiries related to drugs of misuse with those accounting for the most enquiries being cocaine (162), MDMA (130) and Heroin (115)
- The service received 5,422 telephone enquiries about paracetamol
- There were 2,297 telephone enquiries about ibuprofen
- Cocodamol (which contains paracetamol and codeine only) was involved in 1,368 telephone enquiries
- Citalopram was involved in 1,062 telephone enquiries.
In total, the TOXBASE enquiries, also called ‘user sessions,’ involved more than 1.5 million individual page hits. Of these, some 26,653 page hits were for surfactants and detergents; such as washing powders and liquids, and washing up liquids. The database also received 17,143 page hits for chlorine based bleaches and 9,989 for ethylene glycol or methanol, which are chemicals found in antifreeze.
Professor Simon Thomas, director of NPIS Newcastle said: “Exposure to potentially poisonous substances continues to be a very important public health issue in the UK, as shown by the large numbers of enquiries made to the NPIS. The continued increase in TOXBASE enquiries shows that NPIS is successfully encouraging the use of its online database while continuing to answer more complex issues by telephone.”
Dr John Cooper, director of the HPA's Centre for Radiation, Chemicals and Environmental Hazards, said: "The work of the NPIS is essential in helping deliver the best possible care for those suffering serious effects of poisoning while preventing unnecessary hospital admissions when the risk to health is low."
Notes for editors:
- The National Poisons Information Service (NPIS) has units in Birmingham, Cardiff, Newcastle and Edinburgh and is a clinical toxicology service for health care professionals working in the NHS. It is endorsed by the Department of Health (DH) and commissioned by the HPA. It provides expert evidence-based advice on all aspects of acute and chronic poisoning, supporting best practice in the diagnosis and management of patients who may have been accidentally or deliberately poisoned, whether by ingestion, injection, inhalation or skin or eye contact. Further information can be obtained from the National Poisons Information Service page.
- Read the National Poisons Information Service Annual Reports 2011/12.
- For more information or interviews please the HPA press office at the Centre for Radiation, Chemical and Environmental Hazards on 01235 822876/745.
