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Quarter of drug addicts 'wait more than a year for care'



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Published Date: 26 March 2008
By Katrine Bussey
MORE than a quarter of drug addicts due to receive treatment have been waiting for more than a year, figures showed yesterday.
Statistics revealed that, at the end of last year, 26 per cent of those requiring an appointment for treatment had been waiting more than 12 months.

And the proportion of addicts waiting for an initial assessment who had been on a list for more than a year was 27 per cent.

Figures showed that between October and December last year, a total of 6,034 addicts were offered an appointment to be assessed for treatment. Of these, 65 per cent were offered an appointment within a fortnight.

However, the figures also showed that, on 31 December last year, 3,151 addicts were waiting for an assessment. And 27 per cent of those – a total of 766 addicts – had been waiting more than a year.

Last night, a spokeswoman for the Scottish Government said: "Where concerns over waiting times exist, we are working with the local alcohol and drug action team to help address them."

The administration is due to publish a new national strategy on tackling drugs before the summer.





The full article contains 203 words and appears in The Scotsman newspaper.
Page 1 of 1

  • Last Updated: 26 March 2008 12:00 AM
  • Source: The Scotsman
  • Location: Edinburgh
  • Related Topics: Drugs policy
 
1

eric,

26/03/2008 08:14:27
My mum was Promised a Home care package when she was dying of Breast cancer couple of years ago,10 weeks after leaving Hospital She was still waiting on care package,We had to go buy it ourselves .Big chair .comode etc etc etc ,2 days after she died ,Letter arrives From Nurses they can fit mum in now and will be coming out to see her.She worked all her life,
2

sam the god,

26/03/2008 08:47:04
#1 eric

says it all druggies come first stuff the PC brigade dump these scum on a uninhabited island and use the money saved for the genuine ill people

3

,

26/03/2008 11:13:11
Comment Removed By Administrator
Reason:
4

John Blackley,

Florida 26/03/2008 15:43:43
Between October and December last year, 6,034 addicts were offered an appointment to be assessed for treatment - 65 per cent within a fortnight. On
31 December last year, 3,151 addicts were waiting for an assessment - 27 per cent having had to wait for more than a year.

Something's not right with those figures or else the whole story's not being told here. So, in a three month period, 65% of addicts are offered an appointment within a fortnight while there are people who have been wating for a year to get one?

Why is that? What's particular about those people? Are they particularly difficult cases? Have they been uncooperative? Did the counsellors just not like them?

Details, Scotsman! Details!
5

yockel,

26/03/2008 15:50:07
#4 Probably not waiting, just not turning up.
6

northeast,

26/03/2008 16:02:34
You all have a stereotype idea of what a drug addict is and how he/she got there and very little compassion. There but for the Grace of God go I. Ever heard of it?
7

John Blackley,

Florida 26/03/2008 19:16:39
#6 northeast. Your'e absolutely correct, I do have a stereotype (sic) idea of how a drug addict got there. He or she started taking illegal, highly addictive substances.

What's your point?
8

Mr A Roy,

26/03/2008 22:59:08
Meanwhile, Victims of crime get sod all help
9

Fanling,

Taiwan 27/03/2008 19:46:03
Same old story. As for #6: "You all have a stereotype idea of what a drug addict is ..."

Get real. (And leave your God out of it.) They got themselves there then expect the addiction-free taxpayer to foot the bill, i.e. to prolong their addiction via methadone or whatever else ... until the next time.

There are 100s, maybe 1000s, more deserving ill people than self-inflicted drug addicts, and the NHS is right to give priority to those. Northeast #6, see the post #1, then reappraise your supposed compassion. Politically correct clown.

10

Rozz Fyffe,

Scotland 28/03/2008 01:57:48
To cure a junkie, place it in locked room for 50 days, feed it nutritious meals three times a day, permit it to shower when needed.

When cold turkey finished tell ex junkie if they slip back the next time there will be 500 days locked away.

11

alan,London,

twickenham 02/04/2008 19:30:07
These druggies are often referred to as VUNARABLE!! before there decision to join the brain dead. I have a problem understanding how a person can be MADE an illegal user of drugs? It is the hard working clean living in our society who are vulnerable for having to put up with weak kneed do-gooders who put forward useless expensive plans to help druggies. I have a druggie living below me aged about 40. He often boasts about his education at a Public School....how was he vulnerable? Two weeks ago he was sectioned and taken away for treatment. What is the point of trying to help people who's brains are fried. As they are into injections....why not give them a lethal one?
12

thibor,

edinburgh 02/08/2008 17:29:30
No11 you sound like a proper saint do you hit women? do you like football? did your father molest you as a child and not share his drugs with you?

 

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