This report details Drug Related Deaths (DARD) and mortality in treatment across Greater Manchester in 2022 as reported through the IMS DARD surveillance system which is operational in all ten local authorities across the region. Deaths reported to the system include any individual who has died while in treatment or recent treatment with a drug or alcohol treatment provider alongside any DARD cases identified by the coroner. Coroners define drug related deaths as drug poisoning including accidents and suicides involving drug poisonings, as well as deaths from drug abuse and drug dependence. They do not include other adverse effects of drugs such as anaphylactic shock, or other types of accidents; for example, a car crash where the driver was under the influence of drugs.
As the GM DARD surveillance system has become embedded, at the time of this report’s publication there are still issues with dataflow from one of the four GM coroner offices and substantial inquest delays for another. Accordingly, caution should be exercised when comparing data for DARDs for those areas related to total numbers either between local authorities or in comparison to previous years. However, although area totals are given for some elements of this report, the data contained within is intended to provide intelligence on themes within local authority areas and across the sub-region, rather than to benchmark between different geographies.
Report version 2, updated December 2023. The updated report now includes an overview of recent ONS statistics on drug-related deaths.
This Greater Manchester 2022 Drug Related Deaths report is accompanied by DARD profile reports covering each Local Authority area:
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