Scottish Drugs Forum
Skip to Content | Skip to Main Navigation
9 December 2003
LONG-term funding for drug services, a minimum level of service provision throughout Scotland, high visibility government support for the work of frontline workers and a wide-ranging review of the framework and functionality of Drug and Alcohol Teams are the key themes in the Scottish Drugs Forum’s submission to the Scottish Executive Review of Treatment and Rehabilitation Services.
SDF’s 28-page response contains 23 recommendations and follows extensive consultation with around 100 members at events held in Aberdeen, Glasgow and Edinburgh and with service users in the City of Glasgow, Tayside, Fife and Lanarkshire.
In its 7600-word submission, SDF says there is a desperately urgent need for more services, which are wider in range, more person-centred, better coordinated and of a higher quality.
Among the submission’s key observations are:
• Current short-term funding mechanisms hinder proper planning and delivery of services and imply a lack of commitment at government level
• The range and quality of services throughout Scotland needs to be improved, particularly in outreach, family support, services for Hepatitis C positive injectors and employability work
• The Scottish Executive needs to take a visible lead role in improving the morale of frontline workers through robust defence and support of those working in socially and politically sensitive areas
• Several weaknesses exist in the DAAT model which impinge on their ability to ensure the most
effective, efficient and transparent delivery of services
• DAATs need to be more accountable and improve communications with the wider community including users and carers
• The introduction of merged/single stream funding with “signoff” control for DAAT chairs would improve their effectiveness, transparency and accountability
• DAATS should be given fewer key targets to allow them to focus resources more effectively
• £10 million per year could ensure the creation of at least 5000 much-needed employability places to help recovering users out of problem drug use
• Skills shortages are affecting the quality of frontline services – a range of workforce issues,
including staff morale, require urgent attention
• The credibility and effectiveness of substitute prescribing schemes is being affected by too many local
variations – programmes must be more person-centred, holistic and delivered more flexibly
• Research is needed on how to improve transitional care for prisoners returning to the community.
“Progress in tackling Scotland’s drug problem can be achieved over the long-term providing there is
sufficient will – and resources – to make it happen,” says the document.
“Early intervention and treatment, backed by a full range of quality services, will almost always stand a much higher chance of success than attempting to tackle long-standing problem drug use, when the mental, physical, social and economic hurdles are far harder to overcome.
“Positive change can be delivered through sharpening the focus of DAATs and enabling, challenging and encouraging services to provide a better service to those in need.”
Other key recommendations include:
• the provision of funding for family support posts within specialist drugs agencies
• each Health Board in Scotland should have a strategy focusing specifically on Hepatitis C treatment issues for problem drug users
• an increase in needle and syringe exchange services across Scotland
• the provision of extra funding to cover costs arising from the recent legalisation of certain drug paraphernalia
• the development of critical incidents training for users, carers and community groups across
Scotland
• an increase in services to the under 16s
• the number of short-stay crisis centres should be increased from two to at least five
• the creation of a service audit process which is not linked to funding, includes service users and
gives agencies “ownership” of the process.
However, in its submission, SDF also calls for “substantial” investment in legitimate economic activity within Scotland’s most deprived communities to counter and undermine the illicit drugs economy.
“Problem drug use arises out of the despair and misery engulfing people ill-equipped to escape
from the trap of low incomes, low aspirations and even lower self-esteem.
“Poverty and deprivation in all forms – financially, culturally, socially, emotionally and especially combinations of these – are at the root of the overwhelming majority of cases of problem drug use in Scotland.
“We note with concern the prevailing rhetoric on anti-social behaviour because we fear that this
may presage a re-focusing of political will and much-needed resources away from services aimed at tackling the underlying causes of social disengagement.
“We hope that those shaping strategic direction will concentrate instead on investing the support
and resources required to equip communities in the regeneration process.”
Meanwhile, service users have urged action in several main areas including waiting times, assessment, accessibility and flexibility of services, aftercare, the balance of treatments and family support.
Among the issues which service users want addressed are:
• faster referrals to services and outreach work to help keep up motivation while waiting
• an end to duplication in the assessment process, shorter assessment times and open access to assessment information across agencies
• direct access to services, involvement in discussing treatment options and more responsiveness to stigma issues for users accessing services
• more flexible opening hours
• suitable services for non-opiate service users
• person-centred, not timelimited, aftercare
• education and employment opportunities
• more crisis intervention, more abstinence-based treatment and more variety of treatment
• realistic information to families about rehabilitation and options for their involvement in the process
You can view/download SdF's 28-page response to the National Review of Treatment and Care here (Opens in new browser window) and the Service Users' submission (Opens in new browser window) was compiled following consultation with existing User Groups and service users in the City of Glasgow, Tayside, Lanarkshire and Fife.