The National Poisons Information Service is an information service commissioned originally by

Public Health England Public Health England (PHE) was an executive agency of the Department of Health and Social Care in England which began operating on 1 April 2013 to protect and improve health and wellbeing and reduce health inequalities. Its formation came as a ...

, and currently by the

UK Health Security Agency The UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA) is a government agency responsible for all health security in England, and some reserved public health protection matters across the whole of the United Kingdom. It is an executive agency of the Department ...

as its successor agency, on behalf of the UK health departments. Poisoning accounts for 1% of NHS admissions.

Pesticide Pesticides are substances that are used to control pests. They include herbicides, insecticides, nematicides, fungicides, and many others (see table). The most common of these are herbicides, which account for approximately 50% of all p ...

s used in agriculture (particularly organophosphorus insecticides) are extremely toxic, but 87% of around 120,000 annual poisoning cases in the UK take place in the home.

History

In August 1962 the Ministry of Health announced it was forming a poisons information service. This was after the ''Emergency Treatment in Hospital of Cases of Acute Poisoning'' published by the Central Health Services Council in March 1962. Many more household chemicals were on the market, and the chemical composition was only known to the manufacturers. 4,000 to 5,000 people each year were lethally poisoned, with 6,085 in 1962; however, many of the deaths were (non-accidental) suicides. It started in 1963 by Dr Roy Goulding at the Medical Toxicology Unit of

Guy's Hospital Guy's Hospital is an NHS hospital founded by philanthropist Thomas Guy in 1721, located in the borough of Southwark in central London. It is part of Guy's and St Thomas' NHS Foundation Trust and one of the institutions that comprise the Kin ...

, with a staff of 65. By the late 1960s,

recreational drugs Recreation is an activity of leisure, leisure being discretionary time. The "need to do something for recreation" is an essential element of human biology and psychology. Recreational activities are often done for enjoyment, amusement, or plea ...

were presenting a widespread danger. Other centres were soon set up in Edinburgh, Belfast and Cardiff. UKTIS was based in Newcastle from 1995.

Structure

It has four units in Birmingham, Cardiff, Edinburgh and Newcastle. It is a member of the European Association of Poisons Centres and Clinical Toxicologists. * NPIS Birmingham Unit (West Midlands Poisons Unit), City Hospital, Birmingham - Dr Sally Bradberry * NPIS Cardiff Unit, Llandough Hospital - Dr Laurence Gray * NPIS Edinburgh Unit (Scottish Poisons Information Bureau),

Royal Infirmary of Edinburgh The Royal Infirmary of Edinburgh (RIE) was established in 1729, and is the oldest voluntary hospital in Scotland. The new buildings of 1879 were claimed to be the largest voluntary hospital in the United Kingdom, and later on, the Empire."In Com ...

- Dr. Aravindan Veiraiah. * NPIS Newcastle Unit, Regional Drug and Therapeutics Centre,

Newcastle University Newcastle University (legally the University of Newcastle upon Tyne) is a public research university based in Newcastle upon Tyne, England. It has overseas campuses in Singapore and Malaysia. The university is a red brick university and a mem ...

- Professor Simon Thomas NPIS Birmingham has the NPIS Product Data Centre, provided by manufacturer's information, and deals with around 2,300 companies. NPIS supports (24 hours) NHS Direct (for England and Wales) and (24 hours)

NHS 24 NHS 24 is Scotland's national telehealth and telecare organisation. This special health board runs a telephone advice and triage service that covers the out-of-hours period (Mondays to Fridays between 6pm and 8am, public holidays and all weekend) ...

for Scotland. Northern Ireland has its Northern Ireland Regional Medicines and Poisons Information Service in Belfast, and NPIS is used when this is not available. The Republic of Ireland uses the service, via the TOXBASE database, which is used by the country's National Poisons Information Centre. Of all UK nations, Wales has the highest proportionate number of enquiries to the service, with Northern Ireland the fewest. Within England, there is a distribution of higher number of enquiries to the service in the north than the south, with NHS North East having the highest and NHS South of England having the least proportionate number of enquiries. The vast majority (95%) of enquiries come from A&E departments. Around 65% of poisoning is from pharmaceuticals (

paracetamol Paracetamol, or acetaminophen, is a non-opioid analgesic and antipyretic agent used to treat fever and mild to moderate pain. It is a widely available over-the-counter drug sold under various brand names, including Tylenol and Panadol. Parac ...

ibuprofen Ibuprofen is a nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drug (NSAID) that is used to relieve pain, fever, and inflammation. This includes dysmenorrhea, painful menstrual periods, migraines, and rheumatoid arthritis. It can be taken oral administration, ...

citalopram Citalopram, sold under the brand name Celexa among others, is an antidepressant of the selective serotonin reuptake inhibitor (SSRI) class. It is used to treat major depressive disorder, obsessive compulsive disorder, panic disorder, and soci ...

diazepam Diazepam, sold under the brand name Valium among others, is a medicine of the benzodiazepine family that acts as an anxiolytic. It is used to treat a range of conditions, including anxiety disorder, anxiety, seizures, alcohol withdrawal syndr ...

and zopiclone) and 15% from household chemicals (

detergent A detergent is a surfactant or a mixture of surfactants with Cleanliness, cleansing properties when in Concentration, dilute Solution (chemistry), solutions. There are a large variety of detergents. A common family is the alkylbenzene sulfonate ...

bleach Bleach is the generic name for any chemical product that is used industrially or domestically to remove color from (i.e. to whiten) fabric or fiber (in a process called bleaching) or to disinfect after cleaning. It often refers specifically t ...

, and

isopropanol Isopropyl alcohol (IUPAC name propan-2-ol and also called isopropanol or 2-propanol) is a colorless, flammable, organic compound with a pungent alcoholic odor. Isopropyl alcohol, an organic polar molecule, is miscible in water, ethanol, an ...

). There are very dangerous chemicals stored in most UK kitchens. Wednesday is the busiest day of the week for enquiries, with the fewest at the weekend.

Function

The NPIS operates a 24-hour telephone advice service and internet database TOXBASE
www.toxbase.org
for registered healthcare departments only). TOXBASE is free for UK NHS departments, and available by subscription to departments outside the UK NHS. The TOXBASE app is also available for Apple and Android devices. The app is free for individual NHS users. The TOXBASE database contains information on approximately 17,000 products, together with generic advice on the management of poisoning. In excess of 1.5 million product accesses are made to the database each year. Most of the accesses are made by A&E staff. TOXBASE is not available for public access, and much of its information is exempt from disclosure under the

Freedom of Information Act 2000 The Freedom of Information Act 2000 (c. 36) is an Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom that creates a public right of access to information held by public authorities. It is the implementation of freedom of information legislation in t ...

. NHS 111, NHS 24 and NHS Direct all use the TOXBASE database. In the UK poisons information can also be found in the

British National Formulary The ''British National Formulary'' (BNF) is a United Kingdom (UK) pharmaceutical reference book that contains a wide spectrum of information and advice on prescribing and pharmacology, along with specific facts and details about many medicin ...

References

External links

NPIS

TOXBASE

UKTIS

UKMi

EAPCCT
{{authority control 1963 establishments in the United Kingdom Biochemistry databases Drugs in the United Kingdom Medical and health organisations based in the United Kingdom Medical databases in the United Kingdom Medical research institutes in the United Kingdom National Health Service Poison control centers Public Health England Toxicology in the United Kingdom UK Health Security Agency

History

Structure

Function

See also

References

External links