Basic HTML Version
‘Drug and alcohol
problems are a
symptom rather than
the cause, and we need
to treat the individual,
not the symptom.’
Hugh Morris
‘We are all in this
together – no one
owns health.’
Duncan Selbie
‘We have been worried
about the rampant
moralism of recovery.’
Eliot Albers
Public he
Public h
Public
12 |
drinkanddrugsnews
| November 2012
Public health |
Cities
www.drinkanddrugsnews.com
T
he formation of Public Health England (PHE) will herald a new era
for delivering drug and alcohol treatment, Hugh Morris, chair of the
London Drug and Alcohol Policy Forum, told delegates at the first
City Health conference in London. There would be a real opportunity
to work with individuals within their social context to address all of
their needs, and the emphasis would be on partnership working across all areas
of health that boost a client’s wellbeing.
‘Drug and alcohol problems are a symptom rather than the cause, and we
need to treat the individual, not the symptom,’ he said. To achieve this in the
current culture of budget tightening and cost cutting would mean being
innovative and learning from examples of good practice around the world.
This was echoed by Duncan Selbie, chief executive of newly formed PHE,
who said it was ‘a stroke of genius’ to bring public health back into local
government by giving them a legal duty to improve health, as historically this
had always been the case.
‘We are all in this together – no one owns health,’ he said, before emphasising
the importance of making improvements to people’s access to employment,
housing, and local community infrastructure. He promised to concentrate efforts
on the poorest groups in society and to address current health inequalities that
have created a 15-year gap in life expectancy, depending on postcode.
In common with all public services, ‘cost savings across back office functions
must be pursued’, he said, but pledged that budgets for next year would be kept at
current PCT levels. He told delegates that it was up to them to show that what
they did worked and make the case for maintaining their budgets, and also
stressed that ‘the biggest savings will be made by early health interventions’.
*****
How would drug and alcohol treatment fare as part of the new public health
approach, delegates wanted to know.
The first City
Health conference,
held in London,
set the scene for
planting drug and
alcohol treatment
at the heart of the
new public health
agenda.
DDN
reports. Photos
by
Gill Bradbury
‘Can you give us a guarantee that we won’t be forced off maintenance scripts?’
asked Eliot Albers from the International Network of People who Use Drugs
(INPUD). ‘We have been worried about the rampant moralism of recovery – can
you give us reassurance?’
Selbie stressed that PHE would be professionally led and would make sure
treatment was evidence based. ‘There’s nothing moralistic about that,’ he said. He
left the conference promising ‘a much deeper conversation’ in six months time,
when PHE was fully staffed.
In the following session on urban health dynamics, Professor Phil Hanlon of
Glasgow University looked at ‘what’s next for the health of society’. The UK’s
‘trivial’ drug problems of the 1970s were now comparable to Afghanistan, ‘because
we’ve taken the benefits of modernity and pushed them too far,’ he said. ‘We’ve
created consumerism and more people feel stressed, overwhelmed and unhappy.’
Public health was on the brink of transformation, he suggested, and we were in for
‘a bumpy ride, but not a continuation of the same’.
Senator Larry Campbell brought his perspective on ‘changing the status quo’
from Vancouver, where, as mayor, he had been involved in dynamic harm reduction
efforts including the first safe injection site in North America.
Forming a coalition to look at crime prevention and tackling addiction had been
the way forward, he said, including neighbourhood groups, NGOs and businesses.
They had involved VANDU, the local network of drug users, from the start, and had
welcomed homeless people to the free meetings by offering refreshments. One of
the many tangible outcomes was Insight, the registered injection site, which
offered healthcare in all its forms.
‘You can change the status quo but it takes a single group of like-minded
people who are prepared to go down a voyage of discovery,’ said Campbell. ‘You
can go all over the world and find programmes and what works, but it takes effort
on the part of citizens to get involved.
‘You have to be in it for the long run,’ he added. ‘You have to fight people and