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volunteers and emotional support that lasted the whole campaign , while Monica Lennon , the opposition party ’ s health minister , had now established a relationship with FAVOR Scotland built on trust and the shared grief of losing her father to alcoholism .
In partnership with Monica , we held a roundtable event at the Scottish Parliament that gave us an opportunity to invite long-term members of the recovery community , many of whom had worked for more than two decades in residential rehab services where investment was now on a shoestring . The amount of media at our fourth gathering almost outnumbered the community members . Three of the main television stations , many broadsheet newspapers plus the more widely read ‘ red tops ’ were in attendance .
Not only did the press get fully behind us but their reporting was now focused on highlighting the lack of investment in helping people get well . Over the next nine months we continued to
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' Not only did the press get fully behind us but ... Scotland ’ s most widely read newspaper the Daily Record really threw their support behind us with almost weekly articles .'
have monthly gatherings , and in particular Scotland ’ s most widely read newspaper the Daily Record really threw their support behind us with almost weekly articles .
POLITICAL POSTURING The UK and Scottish governments both held summits that were
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nothing more than political posturing , and throughout this time the limited numbers of funded rehab places in Scotland started to become apparent . We had estimated that there were around 70 funded places but this estimate triggered the Scottish government to do their own inquiry . It showed that while Scotland ’ s rehab beds numbered around 365 only an estimated 26 beds were actually funded and accessible to ordinary people via alcohol and drug partnerships .
The usual ‘ rehab doesn ’ t work for everyone ’ arguments were muted now that the government ’ s own figures showed how few people were actually getting access to this life-saving treatment . Our report also highlighted other vital life-saving actions that needed to be invested in if we wanted to see drug deaths start to decline , and that it was no longer acceptable to pitch one potential lifesaving pathway against another . The focus of our campaign , to advocate for balanced investment across all evidence-based treatments , was now being heard very clearly and without prejudice by the press .
When COVID hit we moved our monthly gatherings online . The politicians stayed engaged and more and more people contributed to the call to action for real change and investment . Each of our events has now been viewed over a thousand times and some as many as 3,000 which widened the conversation .
BREAKTHROUGH A year after the first gathering Natalie and I were able to have an online event where we reflected on the campaign . It showed us how far we had come , and more importantly that we must carry on and not give up . Relentlessly we continued to hold monthly events , engage with politicians and feed the press our stories and information . It felt like there was no end in sight and then finally came the breakthrough we had all been praying and working for .
In April we saw the biggest injection of funding in the history of Scotland ’ s addiction field , worth £ 50m a year . It includes an annual £ 20m to offer residential rehab to every person who asks for it . This
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money will not only help save lives , it is also an acknowledgement from the Scottish Government that they hadn ’ t done enough , and it was shortly followed by a £ 148m announcement from the UK government , £ 80m of which is for tier 4 services in England .
Our job now is to remain vigilant to the gatekeeping , bed blocking and other barriers that prevent us from getting access and choice of treatment . That work has included working in partnership with Shelter Scotland to make sure that no one has to choose between their health and their home , and to make sure that the complacency and handwringing of earlier years never happened again .
We don ’ t always have the capacity to reflect or even to tell you about the work we are involved in , and there is still so much to do before people with addiction disorders are treated fairly and with compassion . We are currently involved in developing legislative work to make sure that no person in the UK will ever have to fight for treatment .
COMMUNITY STRENGTH One of most important things that this campaign has shown us is our value as recovering people . None of this would have happened without the support , persistence and tenacity of the recovery community . Over the last 12 years we have led the community into becoming more visible and vocal across the UK – that is undeniable , but we hope that through this campaign we can help the recovery community and the treatment community see how valuable and vital our contribution is . The time for change is well overdue .
We have been asked by too many people to write up this period of our work to ignore doing it . In our very small way this is a snapshot of a significant piece of history in the addiction field . It is written by those who laid the foundations and planning of something different to help people whose suffering demanded not only that their voice be heard , but that they have access to the same resources as the wealthy to help them get well .
Annemarie Ward is CEO at FAVOR UK
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