Big reduction in waiting times for treatment of drug addicts

Published on Monday 5 October 2009 09:55

WAITING times for drug addicts to receive treatment have improved drastically in the past three months.

No-one in the Lothians who approaches GPs or clinics for help to beat their addiction now waits for more than a year to begin treatment, a significant change from earlier this year when a third of addicts were on the 52-week plus list.

And although the improvements have been welcomed, opposition politicians have warned there is still plenty of progress needed. Health chiefs said they would continue to work harder to meet future goals.

Dr Fiona Watson, NHS Lothian's clinical lead in the Lothian Substance Misuse Directorate, said: "We have worked hard to improve the quality of data recording and also with partners in the addiction field on achieving the eight-week referral to treatment target set by the Scottish Government for December 2010.

"We recognise the challenges involved in this but are confident that we can achieve both this target and the three-week referral to treatment target set for 2013."

Figures released this week by ISD Scotland – the official publisher of health data in the country – revealed that up to the end of June there were 669 people who had completed treatment in that year in Edinburgh. Of those, only 0.7 per cent waited more than six months, with around 50 waiting more than three months.

There are currently 400 addicts awaiting for the care process to begin, of whom only two have been waiting for more than six months. It means the picture now is much better than the previous assessment, where 200 people were waiting for longer than a year.

Cllr Ewan Aitken, who sits on the city's health and social care committee, said getting care for drug users would also reduce drug-related crime and resources.

The Labour councillor said: "The key here is that faster treatment isn't important for the people themselves, but for everyone in society. The aim has to be immediate treatment. That way we save a lot of hassle, a lot of grief and a lot of money."

Health chiefs in the Lothians now have more data to work with than ever because all 18 services in the area which provide drug support hand over their data, where-as last year only six bothered to do so.

In East Lothian there is no-one waiting longer than a year for treatment, but in West Lothian and Midlothian there are about 15 people waiting beyond that point in total.

While the Scottish Government doesn't have any formal targets for health boards to meet, NHS Lothian has outlined its determination to begin treatment on every drug addict within 18 weeks of first appointment by December.