TORONTO – Ontario has launched a website that makes opioid-related data available to health-care workers and the public.
The tool, which comes after the province has been criticized over a lack of up-to-date data on opioids, provides access to verified information on opioid-related emergency department visits, hospitalizations and deaths in Ontario for 2003 to 2016.
READ MORE: ‘Staggering’: Ontario filled more opioid prescriptions than ever before amid overdose ‘crisis’
Health Minister Eric Hoskins says 412 people died as a result of opioid overdoses in the first six months of 2016, compared with 371 during the same time period in 2015 – an 11 per cent increase.
For the same six-month time period from 2014 to 2015, there was a 13 per cent increase in opioid-related deaths.
READ MORE: Ontario to track opioid overdoses on weekly basis for first time after spike in deaths
Hoskins says these statistics show that taking action on the issue is “crucially important” and says accurate data is key to combating the third-leading cause of accidental death in the province.
Hoskins says the new opioid-tracking website will help health-care workers and policy makers better understand the scope and scale of the opioid problem.
Click here to view the website.
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