The team from the Urgent Response Team have received a Big Shout Out for their work in providing support for those with opioid addiction.
The new team, who are based at Blantyre Health Centre, were established in March 2023 are the first addiction service in Scotland to offer a seven-day service.
Laura Wilson, team manager for the Urgent Response Team within community addiction recovery service, said: “The team consists of three trainee advanced nurse practitioners and three peer support workers. We also have another two trainee advanced nurse practitioners who are coming on board.
“The three peer support workers provide a wraparound service for any patient who is open to us and try to get them engaged in community recovery.
“Most addiction services are Monday to Friday 9 to 5. However, we are working out of hours and weekends as well to take advantage of the window of opportunity to get people started on treatment as soon as possible. Addiction doesn’t stop at 5pm on a Friday.”
Referrals are received by locality teams in North and South Lanarkshire, where they are screened before being sent to the Urgent Response Team.
The team do a telephone assessment with the patient first, discussing their addiction and any health and social care issues they are facing.
Laura added: “During the telephone assessment, we discuss treatments with them so that they can make an informed choice. Following this assessment, we arrange to go out and see them either at a health centre or at their home.”
Michelle Young, trainee advanced nurse practitioner for the Urgent Response Team, said: “When we meet with the patient, we continually reassure them that it’s okay to be under our service. It’s a positive thing that they’ve done.
“A lot of people are still really nervous when they’re coming in and they feel quite judged and stigmatised. We reassure them that that’s not the case. We’re here to support them, there’s no judgement, it’s more about trying to keep them in treatment and make sure they get that support.
“Before we’ve seen them, we’ve already discussed medications and explained the options. The patient has a choice. So we give them as much information to make their decision. We have got their prescription already arranged at their pharmacist before we meet them. It’s all done beforehand.”
Families are able to come along to the appointments, to learn how to best support their loved one and how they can also be supported.
Michelle added: “We offer the family support and let them know how they can support their relatives. Obviously there’s confidentiality involved, so let them know that sometimes we can’t discuss the patient’s treatment unless they’ve given consent. But we can support them. We have good links to commissioned services within the community that we can link families into.
“The Urgent Response team would like to thank all locality addiction teams and the Alcohol and Drug partnerships for all their support in making the service a success thus far.”
Since launching in March, the team have received 230 referrals. Everyone who has been suitable has been started on same day access to treatment.
The Big Shout Out praises NHS Lanarkshire teams for taking an innovative, creative and patient-centred approach to working, and recognises the unique contribution staff make to overcoming the challenges faced across the entire healthcare system.
