Who we help

NPIS advises other UK and international agencies. NPIS experts contribute advice to official organisations across the healthcare sector, including occupational medicine.

These include the Medicines and Health Care Regulation Agency on the licensing of drugs and their safety in overdose; the Advisory Council on Drugs of Misuse on the toxicity of recreational agents; the Health and Safety Executive on pesticide and other chemical exposures; and the European Commission where NPIS is assisting work to improve early recognition of new poisonings and unusual patterns of toxicity.

Patient and exposure profiles

A large proportion of telephone enquiries relate to children and young people (0-19 years) and, at the other end of the scale, to older people (over 60 years), reflecting the vulnerability of these two groups to poisoning.

In the younger age group, male and female patients are equally affected, while in the older age group more men than women are the subject of enquiries.

Overall across all enquiries, almost nine out of ten exposures (87%) happen in the home, with a small number occurring in agricultural and other workplaces, medical facilities and other locations. Almost half (49%) involve accidental poisonings, while more than a quarter (28%) are deliberate, with 16% attributed to medication error and less than 2% to substance abuse.

Young people and children

Many suspected accidental exposures occur in children; managing them appropriately can be challenging.

NPIS receives over 25,000 telephone enquiries a year relating to young people, under the age of 19 years. More than a third of the calls concern children under 10, the great majority of these (89%) children under five. Enquiries about young people aged 10-19 years account for a further 12% of cases.

This pattern reflects the incidence of accidental childhood poisoning in the general population.

The agents most often enquired about overall (0-19 years) are paracetamol and ibuprofen. In children under nine years, household products are the most common cause of poisoning. NPIS undertook a study of such incidents in 2010. In the 10-19 group, all the agents most frequently enquired about are drugs, with the notable exception of alcohol.

The vast majority of exposures in children under nine (92%) are accidental, whereas in the 10-19 age group, just over half are intentional ingestions.

Older people

NPIS receives over 6,000 telephone enquiries a year relating to older people, over 60 years. Of these, almost half are considered to be as a result of medication errors, a third accidental and the rest either deliberate, or of unknown cause.

Medication errors are a relatively common cause of enquiry in older people. Though some cases are potentially serious, in general such patients come to little harm. Many of the substances involved are products frequently used by this age group, such as paracetamol, digoxin and tiotropium.

Pregnant mothers

Maternal exposure to a toxin or an overdose can pose a severe risk to the baby's development. Through the UK Teratology Information Service (UKTIS), NPIS provides advice and support to professional colleagues on drug and chemical exposure during pregnancy. It handles more than 40,000 enquiries a year of this nature, both on and offline.

The most frequent enquiry to UKTIS in 2009/10 concerned zanamivir, an antiviral used in the treatment of H1N1 influenza (swine flu) in pregnancy. As well as providing advice on swine flu infection and treatment in pregnancy during the 2009 pandemic, UKTIS also assisted by collecting epidemiological data.

Age of poisoned patients reported in telephone enquiries to the NPIS in 2009-2010

A third of calls to NPIS concern children under 10, with household products the most common cause of concern of poisoning.

Last reviewed: 7 February 2011