I would like to make a freedom of information request please about the number of incidents Public Health Wales has on record relating to nitazene (a very strong heroine substitute) and xylazine (a sedative) in the past five years until September 2023.
I would also like to request figures on how many nitazene and xylazine related incidents resulted in a fatality during the same period please.
From September 2018 up to and including March 2022 all incidents logged in Public Health Wales were recorded on concerns management system Datix Web and from April 2022 to September 2023, all incidents logged in Public Health Wales were recorded on concerns management system Datix Cloud.
From the five year date range requested, we have interrogated both Datix Web and Datix Cloud to look at all historical incident records in this timescale.
Wildcard searches were used which involves entering a key word such as ‘nitazene’ and ‘xylazine’ for all incident records containing this information to appear.
When interrogating both Datix Web and Datix Cloud, for the date range and methodology described above 0 incident records were returned.
Public Health Wales is the public health service for Wales and as such is an independent NHS Trust. We have no jurisdiction over the activities of Health Boards and frequently do not have access to the data that they produce. For information they hold you will need to contact them individually.
I have provided contact details for each Health Board below.
Aneurin Bevan University Health Board
http://www.wales.nhs.uk/sitesplus/866/page/39187
Betsi Cadwaladr University Health Board
http://www.wales.nhs.uk/sitesplus/861/page/39134
Cardiff and Vale University Health Board
http://www.cardiffandvaleuhb.wales.nhs.uk/freedom-of-information-new
Cwm Taf Morgannwg University Health Board
https://cwmtafmorgannwg.wales/foi/
Swansea Bay University Health Board
https://sbuhb.nhs.wales/about-us1/foia/
Hywel Dda University Health Board
http://www.wales.nhs.uk/sitesplus/862/page/52085
Powys Teaching Health Board
http://www.powysthb.wales.nhs.uk/freedom-of-information
If you are unhappy with the service you have received in relation to your request and wish to make a complaint or request a review of the decision, you should write to the Corporate Complaints Manager, Public Health Wales NHS Trust, 3, Number 2, Capital Quarter, Tyndall Street, Cardiff, CF10 4BZ.
If you are not content with the outcome of your complaint or review, you may apply directly to the Information Commissioner for a decision. Generally, the ICO cannot make a decision unless you have exhausted the complaints procedure provided by the Trust. The Information Commissioner can be contacted at:
Information Commissioner for Wales
2nd Floor
Churchill House
Churchill Way
Cardiff
CF10 2HH
Telephone: 029 2067 8400
Email: wales@ico.org.uk