NNEF CONFERENCE
NATIONAL FORUM FO
Delegates at the National
Needle Exchange Forum’s
annual conference heard
inspiring examples of
taking harm reduction to the
next level. James Pierce reports.
Photography by nigelbrunsdon.com
M
ore than 200
delegates from
all over the UK
returned to
Birmingham
for the
National Needle Exchange
Forum’s (NNEF) annual meeting in
December.
Perhaps the most important
part of the day was the call to
action to raise support for the
inclusion of drug treatment services
in the Health and Social Care Act, to
ensure that local authorities provide
12 • DRINK AND DRUGS NEWS • FEBRUARY 2020
at least a ‘minimum package’ of
NSP and harm reduction services.
There was significant support from
attendees and the NNEF planning
group agreed that this is something
that the NNEF will be campaigning
for in 2020.
The first speaker of the day
was Jane Bailey of West Midlands
Police, who spoke about trials of
intranasal naloxone – the first
time police officers in the UK have
carried the kits. There have been
at least two successful reversals
of opiate overdoses, and the West
Midlands force is planning to share
the results nationally to help build
the evidence base.
Next up was Stuart Smith,
director of community services
for the Hepatitis C Trust. He
spoke about the move towards
elimination of the virus and the
importance of NSP and harm
reduction services in achieving this.
‘Unless we continue to provide
good harm reduction services
then we are never going to reach
elimination,’ he said.
There was rousing applause
for Daniel Ahmed, clinical partner
South Tees Hospitals NHS
Foundation Trust, as he spoke about
the heroin-assisted treatment
(HAT) they are now providing in
Middlesbrough (DDN, November
2019, page 5). He discussed the
complex health needs of the ageing
cohort in treatment services and
the difficulty in selecting just 20
people to receive diamorphine
treatment, when many more are
failing to benefit from traditional
treatment offers and are stuck in a
cycle of using and criminality. The
scheme appears to be successful
and Daniel reported that ‘we have
just seen a complete shift in how
people are living their lives’.
Claire Smiles presented an
overview of her research into
chemsex and issues around the
knowledge and confidence of NSP
staff in offering advice or even
discussing the chemsex scene. Her
research identified a significant
knowledge gap, with some very
poor and potentially dangerous
advice offered by practitioners and
discussions of pleasure and drug
use being seen as challenging by
some. However she also identified
opportunities for services to think
differently about how they offer
intervention to the chemsex
community and for a wider focus on
inclusivity for LGBTQ communities.
Dr Magdalene Harris of the
London School of Hygiene &
Tropical Medicine followed,
describing her research into
injecting and risk, particularly from
the types of ‘water’ that some
people who inject might use, risking
skin and soft tissue infections.
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