NEWS
NHS HIGHLAND CONTINUES ADDICTION BATTLE
DRUG ADDICTION CONTINUES TO TROUBLE ALL AREAS OF SCOTLAND. LAST YEAR’S REPORT, WHICH SHOWED THAT DRUG-RELATED DEATHS IN 2014 HAD ROCKETED BY 16 PER CENT COMPARED TO THE PREVIOUS YEAR, ROCKED MANY ITS WAKE, AND YET IT WOULD SEEM THAT THE STATISTICS ARE FAR FROM DECREASING.
SCOTTISH DRUG DEATH STATISTICS 2015
* 613 drug-related deaths were registered north of the Border in 2014
* This was an increase of 16 per cent on the previous year and the largest total ever
* The fi gure was nearly 46 per cent higher than the 421 recorded in 2006
* Heroine and morphine accounted for more than half the deaths
* A further 214 were attributed to methadone
* Although the majority of cases involved men, the fi gures recorded a 141 per cent increase in female deaths over the past decade
As with all of the other Scottish health boards, NHS Highland is playing its part in the fi ght against addiction. Bev Horton has recently been appointed as the service lead/advanced practitioner for the substance misuse service in north Highland, helping people who are concerned about their use of substances with their recovery journey.
Despite being in post for only a few months, Bev already has plans for innovative and creative ways to tackle alcohol and drug addiction in Caithness and Sutherland.
‘I have worked as a community mental health nurse in Caithness Alcohol and Drug Service for twelve years,’ said Bev, ‘and I became aware that some people don’t want to access services via referrals from their GP. Although we have come a long way, some people still feel there is stigma attached to using substances,
particularly in a remote and rural community.’
As a result, Bev and her team have set up a service where people in Caithness can contact their service anonymously if they wish. The drop-in clinics, which enable people to access help, support and guidance without having to give any personal details to staff unless they want to, are held three times a week: one in Wick, one in Thurso and an evening drop in within Caithness General Hospital.
On Argyll and Bute, meanwhile, the Argyll and Bute Addiction Team (ABAT) aims to help individuals overcome substance misuse issues.
‘We work with adults from the age of 16 who are having problems with substance misuse,’ said team leader, Leslie Mackay. ‘The team consists of 17 nurses, four social workers, two support workers and a consultant
20 - SCOTTISH PHARMACIST
psychiatrist working throughout Argyll and Bute.
‘One of our nurses specialises in harm reduction, and they work alongside the consultant across the whole patch, whereas the rest of the team work in smaller group dedicated to each area of Argyll and Bute.
‘Individuals are referred to our service by their GP, and we conduct a comprehensive assessment to identify the most appropriate service for them to work with. We then tailor a recovery plan specifi c to them to support them to overcome their addiction.’
As in Caithness, Leslie and her team are increasingly facing the new challenge presented by the use of new psychoactive substances (NPS), or so- called legal highs.
‘We have a number of services
* Just under one third of those who died were from the NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde area, with 17 per cent coming from Lothian and eleven per cent from Lanarkshire
that we can offer people including psychological support, coping skills and residential rehabilitation,’ Leslie explained. ‘When people are referred to us with drug or alcohol addiction, we have an established process of detoxifi cation and understand the signs and symptoms to look out for. However, the rise in NPS has posed problems for us, as we can never be sure what they have taken, or what it contains. We know how to work with things like heroin or alcohol, but we are determined to establish ways to help people beat their addiction to these so-called legal highs.’
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