This annual release by Public Health Scotland (PHS) presents information on injecting equipment provision (IEP) services in Scotland. This includes the number of outlets; attendances and the types of injecting equipment distributed to people who used controlled drugs (including Novel Psychoactive Substances and Image and Performance Enhancing Drugs) in Scotland in 2024/25.

The purpose of injecting equipment provision is harm reduction. The provision of injecting equipment is effective in reducing injecting risk behaviours in people who use drugs. This intervention helps prevent the transmission of blood borne viruses such as hepatitis C and HIV among people who inject drugs. IEP services are operated either by a mix of specialist NHS or third-sector agencies working with people who inject drugs or by pharmacies who choose to supply IEP to people who use drugs.

In 2024/25:

• There were 392 IEP outlets in Scotland. This was an 8% increase compared to 2023/24 (363) and the highest number of outlets in the time series.
• There were 133,113 attendances reported by IEP outlets. This was 8% less than in 2023/24 (144,300) and one of the lowest annual attendance numbers recorded across the time series (only 2022/23 was lower: 132,541).
• Approximately 2.2 million needles and syringes and 1.6 million items of foil were distributed. The number of needles and syringes distributed decreased by 7% compared to 2023/24 and was the lowest since 2015/16. Foil distribution decreased by 9% compared to 2023/24.
• Wipes or swabs (approximately 2 million), spoons/other forms of cooker (approximately 1.3 million) and citric acid or vitamin C (approximately 1.2 million) were the most commonly distributed items of other injecting equipment.

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