The NHS will reduce the amount of Fentanyl doctors prescribe to patients, according to new draft guidelines released today.

Fentanyl is an incredibly strong painkiller linked to America’s growing opioid epidemic.

While the deadly drug was already largely outlawed for use as a first-line rescue medication, the new advice explains that immediate release Fentanyl — used to treat adults with cancer who have breakthrough pain and are receiving opioid therapy — should no longer be prescribed to any new patient.

It also calls for any such patients already being prescribed Fentanyl to be transitioned to other courses of treatment.

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The NHS says the new advice is aimed at improving patient care by no longer routinely prescribing medicines which are either: “Clinically ineffective, unsafe, or not cost effective” in an attempt to save over £190 million a year.

The guidelines argue that the limited number of patients who should be being treated with immediate release Fentanyl “does not justify current prescribing volumes”. The NHS, which is facing a budget crisis, currently spends £10.95 million annually on the drug.

Fentanyl is an opioid painkiller, which means it works by mimicking the body’s natural endorphins, which block pain messages to the brain. The risk of harm is thus higher if the wrong dose or strength is used.

Fentanyl hit the headlines after singer Prince died of an overdose, but it’s been a growing cause of concern for authorities amid America’s opioid epidemic. In April a spate of drug-related deaths prompted warnings about Fentanyl-laced heroin in Yorkshire and Teesside.

The drug is considered to be 50 times more potent than heroin according to America’s Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA).

It’s thought to be dangerous even to people who might accidentally touch or breath a tiny amount of it.

That might help explain why the new NHS guidelines call for any doctors that do prescribe the drug in primary care to do so only in “extraordinary circumstances” and “in a cooperation arrangement with a multi-disciplinary team and/or other healthcare professional”.