Committee
Health Committee, 23 Jan 2007
23 Jan 2007 · S2 · Health Committee
Item of business
Treatment of Drug Users
Mark Frankland:
Watch on SPTV
It is worth considering two factors that are particular to heroin addiction, which I think will dominate today's discussion. First, everyone will agree that heroin is an almost unique substance in that it gets people to behave in a most appalling way. Everything—from their family and friends to their willingness to abide by the law—comes second to heroin. We must never underestimate the strength of that drug.Secondly, if we want to encourage someone to get into treatment, essentially we must take a customer from the illegal drugs industry, which is now the third-biggest business on the planet. It has not reached that position by being bad at what it does. In most small towns in Dumfries, where I come from, a drug user can pick up their mobile phone, dial one of 30 numbers and have a £10 product delivered to them within 10 minutes, 24 hours a day, seven days a week, 365 days a year. Neither Domino's Pizza nor Tesco Extra is that good.When someone who has a drug habit wakes up one morning and thinks, "I have had enough of this life—I have got to change," they will phone up a treatment centre, only to be told that their name will be put on a list, perhaps for two or three weeks or perhaps for nine months. That is no competition at all for the drugs industry. If we are to compete with and to take customers from that industry, we must offer a much better service. The drugs industry is brilliant at providing customer services. We send people who lead chaotic lives letters in the post with appointment times and we expect them to keep those appointments, but they do not. If we do not design services that are much better at accommodating their chaotic lifestyles, we will continue to lose the battle.
In the same item of business
The Convener:
SNP
Agenda item 2 is a one-off round-table evidence-gathering session on the treatment of drug users in Scotland. We have been joined by senior representatives o...
Janis Hughes (Glasgow Rutherglen) (Lab):
Lab
I am the deputy convener of the committee.
Kate Maclean (Dundee West) (Lab):
Lab
I am a member of the committee.
Mark Frankland (First Base Agency):
I am the education manager at First Base Agency.
Mr Duncan McNeil (Greenock and Inverclyde) (Lab):
Lab
I am a member of the Health Committee.
Euan Robson (Roxburgh and Berwickshire) (LD):
LD
I am a member of the Health Committee.
Ms Rosemary Byrne (South of Scotland) (Sol):
Sol
I am a member of the Scottish Parliament.
Dr Richard Watson (Royal College of General Practitioners Scotland):
I am clinical lead for drug misuse at the Royal College of General Practitioners Scotland. I am a full-time general practitioner in Glasgow and deal with dru...
Professor Neil McKeganey (University of Glasgow):
I am director of the centre for drug misuse research at the University of Glasgow.
Alex MacKinnon (Scottish Pharmaceutical General Council):
I represent the Scottish Pharmaceutical General Council.
Tom Wood (Scottish Association of Alcohol and Drug Action Teams):
I chair the Scottish Association of Alcohol and Drug Action Teams and represent the 22 alcohol and drug action teams throughout Scotland.
Helen Eadie (Dunfermline East) (Lab):
Lab
I am an MSP.
Dave Liddell (Scottish Drugs Forum):
I represent the Scottish Drugs Forum.
Dr Jean Turner (Strathkelvin and Bearsden) (Ind):
Ind
I am an MSP.
Stephen Moore (Association of Directors of Social Work):
I represent the Association of Directors of Social Work.
Mrs Nanette Milne (North East Scotland) (Con):
Con
I am an MSP.
Catriona Renfrew (NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde):
I am the director of corporate planning policy with NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde. We are responsible for providing drug and alcohol services for about a thi...
Shona Robison (Dundee East) (SNP):
SNP
I am a member of the committee.
The Convener:
SNP
We are expecting Lesley Finch from SCOT-PEP, the Scottish Prostitutes Education Project, and she may yet turn up. We have had no indication of whether she wi...
Professor McKeganey:
I will begin with a brief comment on funding. It is not easy to get information on funding for drug treatment services in Scotland, but the indications are t...
Tom Wood:
I thank the committee for inviting us. I am sure that all the guests who are round the table will agree that one deficit on the matter in Scotland has been t...
Ms Byrne:
Sol
How effective is the current approach? Drug treatment and rehabilitation in Scotland is patchy and unequal, and for those attempting to access services it is...
The Convener:
SNP
A round-table discussion is meant to flow more easily than a question-and-answer session. Witnesses will be entitled to put questions to other witnesses; it ...
Catriona Renfrew:
We could have a pretty strong consensus that drug treatment services are not as effective as they should be. The health board in my area spends about £37 mil...
Mark Frankland:
It is worth considering two factors that are particular to heroin addiction, which I think will dominate today's discussion. First, everyone will agree that ...
The Convener:
SNP
If an addict phones up to seek help, would you like contact to be made almost immediately? Should someone come round to see them straight away?
Mark Frankland:
Even more simply, I would like to see a system that used to obtain in general practitioners' surgeries when I was a boy. It was possible to ring, get an appo...
Catriona Renfrew:
Almost every part of the national health service now has an access standard. However, there are no access standards for drugs services, so we can keep people...
Alex MacKinnon:
I come at the issue from the perspective of the body that represents all community pharmacists, who are at the sharp edge of delivering services to drug misu...
The Convener:
SNP
I ask everybody, when a subject begins to emerge as a discussion issue, not to come in and immediately scatter-gun around with another set of issues as well....