p04-05 News.qxd
29/10/04
8:01 pm
Page 4
News |national
In brief Parents need more quality attention
NTA treatment focus
A ‘shorter and more focused’
treatment plan template is
now available from the
National Treatment Agency.
The documents are designed
to help partnerships
(between Crime and Disorder
Reduction Partnerships and
Drug Action Teams) develop
their strategic planning and
resource allocation.
Visit www.nta.nhs.uk for full
guidance. Parents need services that are responsive
and ‘give what’s needed, when it’s
needed,’ Anne Page from the National
Family and Parenting told this week’s
Mentor UK International conference.
‘Parents want to be acknowledged as
experts in their own lives,’ said Ms Page.
‘They’re more likely to report satisfaction
with services if they’ve been listened to.
The traditional profile of the family
had changed. Families were smaller, most
mothers worked and the parenting role
was often filled by a grandparent,
neighbour or family friend. More children
were ‘boomeranging back home’ for
Alcohol briefing
A briefing paper from Alcohol
Concern advises on developing
a coherent strategy for manag-
ing alcohol problems in comm-
unities. Aimed at primary care
organisations, GPs and prac-
tice managers and alcohol
treatment providers, the
strategy document exploits the
flexibility of the new GMS
contract with GPs. Available
from www.alcoholconcern.org
New chief for concern
Srabani Sen joins Alcohol
Concern this month, as their
new Chief Executive. Ms Sen
comes from Diabetes UK and
has a background of comm-
unications and public affairs
for the social housing sector.
Clients stay the course
How to make clients return
and stay the course, is dis-
cussed in an article ‘Manners
Matter’ in Drug and Alcohol
Findings. The article, by Mike
Ashton and John Witton,
shows how bonding with the
client can help services to
achieve a positive outcome.
View at www.lifeline.org.uk
4 | drinkanddrugsnews | 1 November 2004
financial reasons, extending their
transition to adulthood.
More than a third of parents in
Scotland were worried about their children
becoming involved with substance misuse.
The survey figure was much lower for
London, at 11 per cent.
Research identified age 13 as a
watershed and Ms Page called for more
support to plug the gap in services for
families with teenagers.
There was a tendency to ‘stereotype
teenagers as Kevin and Perry, which
teenagers can resent’, she warned. Making
sure that young people were equipped with
enough ‘resilience factors’ would make
them less likely to turn to substance misuse.
Having strong family ties, being treated
fairly at school and having a strong spiritual
belief or connection with a sports team,
were all ways to make teenagers more
resilient, she advised.
The Mentor conference, chaired by
Baroness Susan Greenfield, heard a call
from Chief Executive Eric Carlin to make
sure parents had a strong voice: ‘At a time
when the media are giving mixed
messages about alcohol, parents need to
be empowered and have a clear idea of
that they need to say.’
Hepatitus C cases double Extra funding to help
Cases of hepatitis C have
doubled among drug users in
the last three years among
those who have recently
started injecting, according to
the Health Protection Agency.
Research in the HPA’s
latest annual report highlights
a growing problem with
injection sites becoming
infected. Blood poisoning
cases from methicillin resist-
ant Staphylococcus aureus
(MRSA) and severe group A
streptococcus (GAS), linked
to intravenous drug use, were
on the increase. There were
160 cases of GAS reported in
IDUs in 2003, compared to 10
per annum in the mid-1990s.
Poor hygiene was still to
blame for many outbreaks
and there were still incidents
where environmental
contamination of heroin
seemed likely.
An outbreak of tetanus
that started with 11 cases in
2003 had continued into this
year, and there had been 14
reported cases of wound
botulism during 2003.
HIV infection, while rare in
injecting drug users, had
increased in recent years,
and was becoming more
evident in people who had
begun injecting in the last
three years.
Dr Fortune Ncube, who
compiled the report for the
HPA, blamed shared
equipment and poor hygiene
for the increase in infection.
Visit www.hpa.org.uk for
the full annual report.
Scottish addicts
A 23 per cent increase in
funding has been announced
by the Scottish Executive to
help addicts reach treatment
and rehabilitation.
An investment of £6m
would bring 300 more people a
week into treatment and im-
prove quality and consistency
of treatment, according to
Justice Minister, Cathy
Jamieson.
The minister also promised
a stronger partnership
between the criminal justice
and health services that would
‘loosen the dealers’ grip on our
communities’.
David Liddell, Director of
Scottish Drugs Forum,
welcomed the proposals as an
end to the postcode lottery,
that meant many areas of
Scotland were subjected to a
long wait for treatment.
But he criticised the action
plan for insufficient funding
and a lack of detail. Treatment
would be opened up to just
9000 more people over the next
three years – which would
mean still only half of drug
users in Scotland would be
likely to get help.
There was a lack of comm-
itment to helping people
move into the vital stages of
education, training and jobs,
said Mr Liddell. The SDF had
already called on the Executive
to £20 million a year into this
funding, which could save the
economy at least £40 a year in
crime and social care costs.
Set up to help improve knowledge and
understanding between different parts of the
field, the Uniity Group’s latest conference was
a two-day event on board HMS President in
Central London. Ten teams of experts ran a
series of seminars to groups of 15-20 people
at a time – covering topics such as care
coordination, needle exchange, prescribing,
residential rehab and structured day care.
Deirdre Boyd editor of Addiction Today and
leading member of Uniity told us, ‘We were
delighted with the quality of the
presentations and the response of delegates -
and look forward to our next event’.
www.drinkanddrugs.net