Renfrewshire Council

The Commission recognises the breadth and range of services and support provided across Renfrewshire. These include:

Renfrewshire Health and Social Care Partnership

Currently provide:

• Drug Service - a community drug treatment and care service
• Torley Unit - a specialist day service provision
• Integrated Alcohol Team - a community alcohol treatment and care service
• Acute Addiction Liaison Service - a nurse-led service working into the Royal Alexandra Hospital
• Kershaw Unit, Gartnavel Hospital - inpatient alcohol and drug detox beds.

As at 31st March 2020, there were 1001 individuals attending alcohol services in Renfrewshire and 1098 individuals attending drug services in Renfrewshire (this includes shared care).

Royal Alexandra Hospital

• Community Maternity Unit, Special Needs in Pregnancy Service

Renfrewshire Council

• Children's Services.

Support to young people through Renfrewshire Adolescent Drug and Alcohol Resource (RADAR) - 146 young people used the service in 2019/20

Social work pre/post birth team, providing assessment and support to pregnant women and their partners, where the child is likely to be a child in need - 173 individuals were open to the service in 2019/20 (this included both adults and children).

• Criminal Justice Services

Sitting within Children's Services, they provide a range of statutory services for individuals whose offences relate to their substance use, which include:

Drug Treatment and Testing Orders (DTTO) - court orders imposed on individuals where their offending is clearly linked to problem drug use, with the focus of addressing drug use to reduce the risk of further offending and harm - approximately 25 people annually

Diversion - where individuals are diverted from prosecution in relation to offences which can include possession of substances, including Class A drugs, and are supported by DTTO staff/referred to appropriate addiction services - approximately 120 assessments and 43 cases annually are diverted (although data is not available on how many are related specifically to alcohol / drugs). Most Fiscal Work Orders (approximately 40 annually) relate to cannabis possession at festivals.

Interventions with individuals subject to licence or community orders where addiction is a factor in their offending, including the Women's Community Justice Service, which is co-located with addictions, allowing a one stop shop for women with chaotic lifestyles - data on this is not currently available, however, alcohol and drug counselling accessed as other activity as part of the unpaid work and other activity requirement is approximately an eighth of the other activity accessed by individuals - although more than an eighth of those accessing these services have substance related offending. Voluntary processes also exist to link individuals into services:

Throughcare Addiction Service (TAS), supporting those released from short sentences, linking them in with services to address their addiction - approximately ten young people annually.

Arrest Referral (AR) - supporting those in court appearing from custody, linking them into services to address their addiction issues - approximately 600 assessments are undertaken annually, however, data is not currently recorded on the numbers who engage with addictions services following referral.

A range of services and support are provided across the third sector and community organisations, some of which are funded by Renfrewshire Council and Renfrewshire HSCP. Some of these include:

• The Sunshine Recovery Café
• Renfrewshire Family Support Group
• Changing Stages Drama Group
• Youth Interventions
• Active Communities/KAIROS
• Our Place, Our Families
• Barnardo's Threads
• Tannahill Centre
• Life Church
• RCA Trust
• CRISIS Counselling
• RAMH
• Renfrewshire Council on Alcohol
• Turnaround Service - a Community Justice Division centrally funded residential service for chaotic offenders, where addiction is often one of the areas addressed within the lifestyle collapse.

A CORRA funded, Just Recovery post was created for 12 months, following a successful ADP backed bid to the CORRA Foundation to analyse and create pathways into addiction services for individuals at all stages in their journey through the criminal justice system. The implementation of the post has been
delayed by COVID-19.

Review of local alcohol and drugs services

According to evidence provided, Renfrewshire HSCP's Drug and Alcohol Service provision is in a transition period and is working towards a fully integrated, recovery focused treatment and care service for drug and alcohol. This shift has required significant service re-design, with staff and stakeholder engagement. Work is underway to implement the future service model for Renfrewshire which will align to the national strategy 'Rights, Respect and Recovery: Alcohol and Drug Treatment Strategy'. It is intended that the redesign exercise will also allow for greater co-location of services - which are currently structured as separate provision and in separate locations. The creation of a Recovery Hub will also allow the Health and Social Care Partnership (HSCP) and Council run services to be delivered alongside third and community sector support with groups and organisation using facilities within the hub.

The service redesign was influenced by the independent review of addiction services commissioned by Renfrewshire HSCP during 2018/19. The purpose of the review was to consider all aspects of service and care delivery to ensure that they are person-centred, recovery focused and have clear pathways in and out of services. As a result, a series of recommendations were agreed and are summarised as follows:

1. Introduction of a clear and visible single service model for Renfrewshire
2. Establishment of a single access or receiving team for all alcohol and drugs  referrals
3. Review the model of care within Renfrewshire Drugs service and consider the adoption of a community-based provision
4. Extend the model of care provided by the Integrated Alcohol Team to include alcohol home detoxification
5. Development of an integrated community rehabilitation facility
6. Review the Renfrewshire GP local Enhanced Service with the aim of establishing a Renfrewshire shared care model
7. Explore opportunities to establish a dedicated shared care team to manage the proposed new provision
8. Explore the possibility of commissioning of a recovery/aftercare hub.

Since the review was undertaken, there have been a range of national developments which local partners should consider - including, the establishment of a National Drug Deaths Taskforce and the Drugs Commission in Dundee.