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NEW GUIDANCE PUBLISHED ON IEP


Since Scotland currently has the highest per person mortality from drug-related deaths in Europe, the publication of a good practice guidance on the provision of injecting equipment in Scotland is both timely and welcome…


G


ood practice guidance on the provision of injecting equipment in Scotland has recently been published. The


document – ‘Injecting Equipment Provision in Scotland: Good Practice Guidance 2021’ - is the first such publication since the 2010 ‘Guidelines for services providing injecting equipment: Best practice recommendations for commissioners and injecting equipment provision services in Scotland’.


Since then, there have been significant changes in what drugs people use and in the way drugs are being used, as well as research on the role and provision of injecting equipment provision (IEP) services: all of which mean that there has long been a need for new guidance.


Currently Scotland has the highest per person mortality from drug-related deaths in Europe. In Greater Glasgow and Clyde, and several other health boards, there has been an ongoing outbreak of injecting-related HIV infections. There has also been an increase in injection- related injury and bacterial infections with outbreaks, such as the Lothian-centred cluster of Group A Streptococcal infections in 2016, causing significant morbidity and mortality.


There is a direct link between the Guidance and the provision of what were then called needle exchange services in the first HIV epidemic in the 1980s. The first needle exchange in Scotland was opened in Edinburgh in 1987. Then, as now, IEP and associated harm reduction interventions are important public health measures that can serve as a vital link to other health and social care provision that can benefit a very marginalised population.


Academic and peer-led research has shown that there remain some IEP services that do not adequately address the full range of needs identified. Those delivering IEP also require updated guidance that reflects changing needs and health issues.


Evidence of IEP effectiveness A large body of evidence supports the effectiveness of the provision of sterile injecting equipment through IEP services to reduce injection risk behaviours that can lead to blood-borne virus transmission and other drug-related harms.


42 scottishpharmacist.com


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