Dr Donna Evans is a GP Partner at Brownlow Health, Liverpool, and an experienced GP Trainer with a specialist interest in substance misuse and addiction medicine. She has completed the RCGP Certificate in the Management of Drug Misuse (Part 2) and is actively involved in improving the identification and management of substance-related health complications within primary care.
Dr Evans is a member of a multidisciplinary working group that has developed a clinical protocol to support GPs in the recognition and management of ketamine-related complications. This guidance has been published by River, Change Grow Live (CGL), with the ambition of informing future national guidance for primary care clinicians.
The North West of England has seen a concerning rise in ketamine use among young people, with reported use in adolescents as young as 12 years old. As a result, healthcare services are increasingly seeing patients with significant ketamine-related health complications, particularly affecting the urinary tract. Secondary care urology services are struggling with demand, including paediatric urology.