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Guidance Documents

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Access the Guidance Documents

The following items are arranged in chronological order of addition to the site, with the most recent at the top.

Guidance for the use of substitute prescribing in the treatment of opioid dependence in primary care - Chris Ford, Kate Halliday, Euan Lawson and Elsa Browne; supported by Nigel Modern, Charlie Lowe, Nazmeen Khideja, Penny Schofield, Richard Watson (1st Edition, Feb 2011, Updated 20-05-2011) Opioid dependence is common in the UK and there are effective substitution medications, including methadone and buprenorphine, to support treatment. This guidance covers the use of substitute medication, which can be an important element in the treatment of opioid dependent patients and their medically assisted recovery (MAR).	Digital Publication	PDF (.pdf, 3.1MB)
Guidance for the Prevention, Testing, Treatment & Management of Hepatitis C in Primary Care - RCGP (1st Edition, 2007, Updated 07-11-2007) Includes appendices on: hepatitis A and B vaccination guidance, hepatitis B and HIV. Note: In a previous version of this guidance, Table 2 on page 19 gave the dose of interferon in milligrams when it should have been in micrograms.	-	PDF (.pdf, 3.1MB)
Guidelines for Community Dose Induction (CDI) & Assessment - Adapted from "Slaying the Dragon" - the Birmingham Shared Care Guide produced by a partnership of Birmingham GPs, Drug Solutions Birmingham & the Birmingham Drug Action Team (May 2006)	-	PDF (.pdf, 56K)
Flow Chart for Community Dose Assessment (CDA) Using Supervised Consumption (SC) with Daily Dispensing - Adapted from "Slaying the Dragon" - the Birmingham Shared Care Guide produced by a partnership of Birmingham GPs, Drug Solutions Birmingham & the Birmingham Drug Action Team (May 2006)	-	PDF (.pdf, 40K)
Methadone Guidelines - Annette Verster & Ernst Buning, Euro-Methwork (Jan 2006)	Read on the Euro-Methwork Web Site	-
Buprenorphine - Critical Questions Answered - Annette Verster & Ernst Buning, Euro-Methwork (Jan 2006)	Read on the Euro-Methwork Web Site	-
Guidance on Prescribing Benzodiazepines to Drug Users in Primary Care - Dr Chris Ford, Kay Roberts & Jean-Claude Barjolin (Updated Oct 2005)	-	PDF (.pdf, 93K)
Alcohol and Other Drugs - A Handbook for Health Professionals - National Centre for Education and Training in the Addictions (NCETA) (Oct 2005)	Read on the NCETA Web Site	-
Methadone Guidelines: Prescribers & Pharmacists - Victorian Government Health Information (Oct 2005)	Read on the Victorian Gov Health Info Web Site	-
Australian Alcohol Guidelines: Health Risks & Benefits - National Health & Medical Research Council (NHMRC) (Oct 2005)	Read on the NHMRC Web Site	-
Guidelines for the Treatment of Alcohol Problems - National Drug & Alcohol Research Centre (Oct 2005)	Read on the Australian Gov Dept of Health & Ageing Web Site	-
US NIH Consensus Statement on the Effective Medical Treatment of Heroin Addiction - US National Institute of Health (Oct 2005)	Read on the NIH Web Site	-
RCGP Guidance for the Use of Methadone for the Treatment of Opioid Dependence in Primary Care - RCGP & SMMGP (Sep 2005)	-	PDF (.pdf, 510K)
RCGP Guidance for Hepatitis A & B Vaccination of Drug Users in Primary Care & Criteria for Audit - RCGP & SMMGP (Apr 2005)	-	PDF (.pdf, 703K)
RCGP Guidance for Working with Cocaine & Crack Users in Primary Care - RCGP & SMMGP (Nov 2004)	-	PDF (.pdf, 706K)
RCGP Toolkit for General Practitioners & Primary Care Organisations Criteria, Standards & Evidence Required for Practitioners Working with Drug Users - RCGP & SMMGP (Updated Nov 2004)	-	PDF (.pdf, 334K)
Guidance for the Use of Buprenorphine for the Treatment of Opioid Dependence in Primary Care - RCGP & SMMGP (Updated Oct 2004) These are the new guidelines that are intended to aid GPs in the use of buprenorphine as a substitute medication for opiod dependence for maintenance and detoxification. Includes main document, Patient Information Sheet, and Summary Sheet.	-	PDF (.pdf, 373K)
CJIP - Clinical Guidance to Maximise Access to Drug Treatment - Criminal Justice Intervention Programme (Jul 2004) This document aims to provide additional guidance to inform the work undertaken by Criminal Justice Intervention Programme teams in relation to their role in providing and facilitating access to drug treatment.	-	PDF (.pdf, 58K)
Hepatitis C Testing Proforma + Back-up Information - RCGP Sex, Drugs & HIV Task Group (Updated Mar 2004) This proforma is designed to record and prompt appropriate discussion prior to Hepatitis C testing and to ensure fully informed consent is obtained prior to testing. It states that it should be used in conjunction with the accompanying sheet "Hepatitis C testing: back-up Information".	-	PDF (.pdf, 25K)
Starting Methadone Safely - RCGP Sex, Drugs & HIV Task Group (Mar 2004) This article provides some guidance and for GPs who are not so familiar with caring for drug users.	-	PDF (.pdf, 10K)
Clinical Guidelines & Procedures for the Use of Buprenorphine in the Treatment of Heroin Dependence - AusInfo for Commonwealth Dept. of Health (Jun 2001)	Read on the Australian Dept. of Health & Ageing Web Site	-

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Notes About the Guidance Documents

Some of the documents can be read online as standard web pages (), whilst others can be downloaded as Adobe Acrobat () documents for viewing and/or printing in their original format.

Some documents can also be read online as digital publications - just click on the small cover images to open the publications in a new browser window. The digital publications can be browsed just like you would the printed version i.e. you can "turn the pages". You can zoom in simply by clicking where you'd like to look more closely, then zoom back out by clicking again. There are many other useful features available, such as book marks and notelets.

Downloadable versions are provided as Adobe Acrobat PDF documents, and are labelled "PDF" in the table above. Please see Help with Download Documents if you need more information.

Readers should note that great care is taken to try and ensure all information contained in these documents is correct at the time they are published, but that details may change over time. The older the document, the more likely it is that details such as contact names and addresses, or links to 3rd party web sites, may have altered.

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