16 |
drinkanddrugsnews
| October 2015
Harm reduction
More harm reduction at:
Matt Johnstone
brings
harm reduction news from
the annual NNEF meeting
within drug services and pharmacies. The main aims
are to assess the availability of access to clean
injecting equipment, and whether people accessing
NSPs are treated with dignity and respect.
The NNEF is currently recruiting service users,
service user groups and harm reduction advocates to
become secret shoppers to find out what is
happening in the real world.
The day finished with keynote speaker Sara
McGrail, who gave an inspirational presentation on
what the increase in drug-related deaths might be
telling us about our drug treatment system.
Highlighting the concerns for the sector with the de-
prioritisation of harm reduction, changes in the
culture of drug services in England as well as the
impact of service commissioning and
recommissioning every few years, she called for the
‘urgent and focused thematic CQC review of service
and commissioning, including contracts in those areas
which have the highest rises in opiate-related deaths.’
For more information about the presentations
and to join the NNEF (membership is free) visit
Matt Johnstone is deputy chair of the NNEF
Pics by Nigel Brunsdon
‘It is so important
not to let the
development of
paperwork be a
barrier to getting
started...’
NIGEL BRUNSDON
importance of developing protocols and policies as
well as working with local partners to raise awareness.
‘When it comes to starting naloxone within your
service, it is so important not to let the development
of paperwork be a barrier to getting started,’ he said.
‘However we do need to monitor the programmes to
evidence the effectiveness to others, as well as
working with commissioners at all levels to make
naloxone provision a key performance indicator.’
POLICY UPDATES
Speakers from PHE and the Home Office provided the
latest news from public health. Among them were Viv
Hope who outlined the recent emergence of
mephedrone injecting in the UK from the unlinked
anonymous monitoring survey (UAM) among people
who inject drugs. He highlighted that ‘there are higher
levels of risk and infections among those who have
injected mephedrone, with one in 12 among survey
respondents having injected mephedrone within the
last 28 days.’
‘INTERVENTIONS NEEDED’
Katelyn Cullen from PHE drew insights from the UAM
survey into neck injectors, outlining that interventions
are required to improve injecting technique and
reduce misconceptions around this practice.
There were also updates from the Home Office with
David Ryan-Mills looking for services to get involved
with their plans to evaluate foil provision in England.
NNEF DEVELOPMENTS
Jamie Bridge, chair of the NNEF, gave an overview of
the work completed by the NNEF within the past year,
including the creation of a directory of all the needle
exchanges in England following the Freedom of
Information request to 152 directors of public health.
‘NICE guidance recommends that directors of public
health ensure that services are commissioned to deliver
a range of generic and targeted needle and syringe
programmes to meet local needs,’ he said. ‘Without a
central database or map of exchanges, it is difficult to
assess the implementation and coverage of NSPs.’
As deputy chair of the NNEF, I launched the ‘secret
shopper’ project to assess the service offered by NSPs
THE NATIONAL NEEDLE EXCHANGE FORUM
(NNEF) held
its annual meeting in Birmingham last month. The
meeting brings together members of the NNEF to
present the latest news and updates on harm reduction
for needle exchange workers, harm reduction advocates
and service users, with a number of exhibitors including
Frontier and Exchange Supplies displaying the latest
products for needle exchange programmes.
There were presentations on the latest
developments on naloxone and updates from Public
Health England (PHE), as well as updates on the work
of the NNEF over the past year. Alongside some of the
presentations there were overdose and naloxone
training sessions, delivered by NNEF deputy chair
Philippe Bonnet and Kevin Jaffray.
NALOXONE CHANGES ‘JUST A START’
The morning sessions focused on updates and changes
to legislation regarding the provision of naloxone.
Kirstie Douse from Release presented the legal
implications of the changes, highlighting that the new
regulations are a good start but don’t go far enough as
there is still no national programme or requirement to
provide naloxone, resulting in a postcode lottery.
Nigel Brunsdon spoke about practical ways to
embed naloxone provision into services, showing the
