P.48 Improving health outcomes for the most vulnerable in society
Addiction services:.
• At year end 9,804 patients were in receipt of opioid substitution treatment outside of prisons. This included 4,242 patients treated by 362 GPs in the community with 700 pharmacies catering for 6,891 patients.
• Individual rehabilitation pathways were created to meet the needs of those affected by drug misuse in line with the National Drugs Rehabilitation Framework. Of the people who commenced treatment 63% of those aged over 18 had an assigned key worker and 74% had a written care plan, while 84% of those aged under 18 years had an assigned key worker and 85% had a written care plan. • Screening and brief intervention training for alcohol and substance misuse (SAOR) training was delivered to 1,239 staff, 59% over what was planned. This was enabled through the SAOR Train the Trainer Programme.
• The procurement process to develop a medically supervised injecting centre in Dublin City Centre was progressed. The Misuse of Drugs (Supervised Injecting Facilities) Bill 2017 was published in February which enables the issuing of a licence to operate Ireland’s first supervised injecting facility.
• Training in the administration and provision of naloxone was provided to 86 staff, homeless services and voluntary providers and train the trainer for facilitator trainers for the programme was provided to 14 people. 1,039 naloxone products were provided to services, a two-fold increase on 2016.