Drug addicts get guarantee on waiting time for rehab

Published on Wednesday 15 April 2009 09:48

DRUG addicts in the Lothians are to become the first to receive a waiting time guarantee for specialist rehab treatment.

The move to get quicker help for addicts follows concerns that nearly half of drug users in the Capital faced a wait of over six months. Now fresh guidelines, due to be put into place by 2011, should see treatment speeded up.

Drugs abusers will be put on to a waiting time structure – likely to be initially around 15 weeks – which would see medics adhere to targets to get them through the treatment and support process quicker.

According to the Information Services Division, at the end of last year around 45 per cent of drug users in Edinburgh were waiting longer than 26 weeks.

Figures released by the Conservatives recently showed that around 25 per cent of Scottish drug users were forced to wait more than a year.

Currently, support organisations across the city must report back to the council and NHS, showing how long it is taking them to put clients in touch with a counsellor. But this measure will mean prescribed treatments will also be monitored.

Glenn Liddall, manager of the city's Simpson House drug support organisation, said: "Of course, anything that speeds up the treatment is to be welcomed.

"It is crucial that those with addictions are seen to as quickly as possible because when they make contact with services that is at a point when they are highly motivated. That can sometimes be prescriptions, sometimes counselling, and often both go hand in hand. My only fear is that waiting times become more important than the treatment and the person themselves."

The measures, part of NHS Lothian's Local Delivery Plan, have filtered down from the Scottish Government, which is keen to place more emphasis on waiting times across the board.

Also included in the process will be cases where there is found to be a "suspicion of cancer", meaning they will receive the necessary treatment within two months.

As it stands, the clock only starts ticking on cancer waiting times from diagnosis.

Others are a 12-week maximum wait for inpatient and new outpatient appointments by March next year and quicker access to treatment for children and adolescents who need mental health support.

Holyrood will give NHS Lothian more than 17 million to implement the changes, which should be complete in under three years.

Grahame Cumming, NHS Lothian's strategic programme manager (surgery) told board members: "There are a number of new waiting time targets and standards. The planning for the delivery of these is well under way."