17.12.2009 PAC - HSE Opening Statement

1 HSE Opening S ta tement for P AC Meeting Thursda y 17 th December, 2009 The HS E we lcomes the op portunity to up d a te the P AC on is sues raised in the C &A G Report No 64 and s ubseq uently when the HSE appea r ed before the PAC in July. • Case Manag em ent/Key Working in Addiction S ervices; - The National Rehabil itation C o-ordinator has undertaken an ana lys is in the 4 Re g ions of th e HSE, Dub lin Mid L e ins te r; Dublin North Eas t; HSE So ut h and HSE Wes t to i de nti fy where forma l Cas e M ana ge ment/ K ey Worki ng ap proac hes are in plac e in the addiction services. The analysis showed tha t a key w orki ng s ys te m is in plac e in the ma j ori ty o f a d d ict ion s ervice s i n 3 out o f the 4 r eg ions . F orma l Case M a nagement s ys tem s are no t a commonly utili s ed tool in the he a lth s ervic e s. T his is a use ful b as eline for the Na tion a l R eh a b il ita tion C o - ordinato r who as p art of a nd c ha i r of the Na tional R eha b i l i ta tion Implementa tion Com mittee is d ue to d eli ver a Nationa l Framework for R eha b il itat ion ea r ly in 2 01 0 whic h w il l ad d r es s the is sue o f c a s e mana g ement and key working in the ad d iction services. • S ub oxo ne ;- An E xp ert Group s et up b y the Dep artme nt of Hea l th a nd C hi l d ren to examine the us e of B uprenorphine/Naloxone (Sub oxone) r ecommended the intr od uc tion, i n the s hort te rm a nd a s a fe as i b i li ty s tud y, of t he p resc r ibing a nd d is p ens ing of B up renor p hine/ Naloxone (S ub oxone ) i n s p ec iali s t ad d ict ion clinics with p harmacies a nd supervised dispensing on site and in a selected num b er of c ommun ity s et tings (L ev el I I GPs a nd commu nity pha rma c is ts ). T he stud y would run for a year and prescribing/ dispensing a t the s tud y sites wo uld be e valuated be fore a d ec i s i on was ma de o n whether to extend p resc r ibing/ d is p ens ing to the entir e commu nity. P ha rm a c is ts a nd G P ’ s ha ve be en recrui ted to be part of the study spread across different addiction s ervice s. T he S tud y wil l b e eva luate d in F eb ruar y/ Ma rch 20 10 . T he num b ers of clients active in the study currently is 43. • Needle E xc hange Services;- The Rep ort o f the NACD/ NDS T working gr oup on Needle E xcha nge provision in I r ela nd [Nov em b er 2 008] as sess ed the r ole o f nee d le exc ha ng e in harm reduc tion and the e xtent of p r ovisi on in Ireland. T he R ep ort s tated tha t worldwide ‘A s ubs ta nti al numbe r of d r ug inj ec tors have be en a ttrac ted to thes e p r og rammes and have be en p rovided with a range of s ervi ces which c annot be s ui ta b l y offered b y other hea l th s ervi c es ‘ [p22]. I t s howed ho w Need l e E xc ha nge p r ovis ion i n Ir eland r eflec ted the a reas whe re m os t injec ting took place and es timat ed 44,663 exchange s in 2007 predominately in Dub l in. T he R ep ort als o p ointe d o ut the l a c k of Nee d l e E xcha ng e s ervi c es

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17.12.2009 PAC - HSE Opening Statement