Footnotes

• Contributors GCR wrote and edited the manuscript.

• Funding The authors have not declared a specific grant for this research from any funding agency in the public, commercial or not-for-profit sectors.

• Competing interests GCR is reading for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy on the prescribing of opioid analgesics in primary care, funded by the National Institute for Health Research School for Primary Care Research Doctoral Studentship, the Naji Foundation and the Rotary Foundation.

• Patient consent for publication Not required.

• Provenance and peer review Not commissioned; internally peer reviewed.