This evaluation has sought to provide insights on the Turning Point Scotland test of change Overdose Response Team Service - ORT. The key aims of the service is to provide a rapid response to near-fatal overdose to provide harm reduction interventions and advice; give a short, focused period of support maintaining contact through assertive outreach and to help individuals connect or reconnect to support services. It is an assertive outreach service including out-of-hours and weekends, reaching out to individuals and linking them to services in their communities. The aim of the service is also to test system change – to identify barriers to engagement with services.

The evaluation showed that the service was able to find people, engage with them, it saved lives and helped individuals engage with other services. There was considerable activity in reaching people in Glasgow, and growing number of cases in Greater Glasgow and Lanarkshire. TPS also worked with Glasgow HSCP in establishing its own statutory Crisis Outreach service. Time, and the outreach elements of the service were critical for the individuals concerned, and the shortest engagement times had the more favourable outcomes. Referrals directly from hospital appeared to provide one of the quickest referral pathways. Interviews with 37 individuals using the service showed that the ORT service provided a critical immediate overdose response service to save lives, and support to engage with other services. Looking at the 18 individuals re-interviewed, this showed that for most there was an improved situation and 12 out of these 18 had not had repeat near fatal overdoses at the point of the follow-up interviews, around six months later...