Meeting of the Parliament 30 January 2020
As I said, I will outline some of the work of the task force, which I know members are keen to hear about. There will be plenty of time for debate later.
The task force will continue to develop pieces of work that will directly address the current number of drug deaths. In the short term, it has focused on making sure that, where possible, we provide people with the tools that they require to keep them alive, which, in relation to overdose deaths, is the drug naloxone. There has been a significant push to increase the availability of that drug, which can reverse the effects of an overdose. For example, yesterday, I announced the funding of a pilot with the Scottish Ambulance Service, which will allow it to trial distribution of naloxone to individuals following a non-fatal overdose. If that trial is successful, we expect that practice to become the norm and that it will be rolled out across Scotland.
Furthermore, the chair of the task force has been working with the chief pharmaceutical officer on a proposal to train all community pharmacists in the administration of naloxone and to have naloxone available if requested, thereby providing a potential life-saving service should they be approached in an emergency.
In December, I wrote to naloxone leads in health boards, requesting that they contact homelessness services to ensure that naloxone is made available to the shelters and facilities that are being used by some of our most vulnerable people during the coldest months of the year. Again, that was to ensure that kits, peer support and appropriate training are accessible when required.
The chair of the task force and I also wrote to alcohol and drug partnerships and integration authorities to provide them with the task force’s first set of formal recommendations for reducing drug deaths. We need to see those recommendations in local strategies for 2020-21. The recommendations cover targeted distribution of naloxone, improvements to medication-assisted treatment and immediate responses to non-fatal overdoses.
The task force is also working on a number of longer-term projects, including producing a set of national standards for the delivery of medication-assisted treatment. That work will help to reduce the variation in how services administer MAT, and it is backed up by strong evidence. The standards will give people choice in the type and dose of their medication as well as access to same-day prescribing of MAT, which is something that I am asked about regularly. That will mean not limiting people to methadone but also including buprenorphine and Suboxone.
I will respond to the amendments in my closing remarks, but I note that, in relation to the first part of Alex Cole-Hamilton’s amendment, the sub-group will also look at diamorphine-assisted treatment and will be able to recommend whether the current pilot in Glasgow should be extended and rolled out.
Another focus for the task force is the role of our justice system, recognising that there is more that we can do within and through the justice system to improve outcomes for individuals in appropriate cases. Both Police Scotland and the Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service are task force members, and the Lord Advocate fully supports its work.
People who experience problematic drug use are unwell and need treatment, care and an end to the isolation that drug use can bring. In Scotland, we continue to develop innovative—