Objective

To assess the feasibility and possible impacts of implementation of systematic non-pharmacological interventions to reduce the level of prescribing of opioid and gabapentinoid analgesics for chronic non-cancer pain (CNCP), particularly high-dose prescriptions, through a proof-of-concept study in a deprived area (second lowest decile) primary care practice in North-East England.

Participant

Twenty-five primary care staff (clinical and non-clinical) of which 18 clinicians received the intervention.

Intervention used in this study practice known as GOTT (Gabapentinoid and Opioid Toolkit)

All clinicians received an educational skills programme to support patient pain self-management, tailored on the clinicians’ self-assessment of their learning needs, embedding both clinician skill learning and patient self-care resources for rapid access within consultations into a GP clinical management computer system.

Outcome measures

Clinical staff completed questionnaires before and after the GOTT intervention to assess levels of knowledge and confidence in their own skills to support chronic pain self-management across several domains. Prescription data were used to measure changes in opioid and gabapentinoid prescribing at the practice across the 12-month intervention and 30-month follow-up period.

Results

Prescribing of opioid and gabapentinoid/pregabalin decreased substantially in the practice across the intervention period (c. 90% in high-dose opioid [p = .0118], and 15% gabapentin/pregabalin prescriptions, respectively), over a one-year period during the COVID-19 pandemic. Follow-up analysis showed 100% and c.50% reductions, respectively, in December 2022. The questionnaire data showed an increase in clinician confidence in skills to enable self-management over the intervention period, overall (p = .044) and, specifically across three of the five domains measured: supporting behavioural change (p = .028), supporting self-care (p = .008), and managing difficult consultations (p = .011).

Conclusion

The GOTT intervention program provided some initial evidence of a proof-of-concept for the implementation of a systematic non-pharmacological pain management skills and resources programme addressing lack of confidence in skills to introduce and support self-management and reduce use of strong opioids and gabapentinoids.

Search results

Assessing the feasibility of the GOTT (Gabapentinoid and Opioid Tapering Toolkit) in a primary care setting in North-East England