The 16th National Conference Working with Drug and Alcohol Users in Primary Care
Friday, 14 January 2011
The 16th National Conference Working with Drug and Alcohol Users in Primary Care The public health agenda: making patient centred care the imperative Date: Thursday 12th May – Friday 13th May 2011 Venue: Harrogate International Centre
This conference is the largest event in the UK for GPs, shared care workers, drug users, nurses and other primary care staff, specialists, commissioners and researchers interested in, and involved with, the management of drug and alcohol users in primary care. We are delighted to be extending a warm invitation for you to visit Yorkshire for the RCGP 16th National Conference on working with drug and alcohol users in primary care. The 2011 Conference, jointly organised by the Sex, Drugs and HIV Group and Substance Misuse Management in General Practice, is in Harrogate, and has input from a wide range of experts and enthusiasts from many of the services operating across Yorkshire and nationally.
As always our invitation is extended to everyone involved in drug and alcohol treatment, including service users, carers and advocates, GPs, Nurses, therapists, drug workers, commissioners, planners and strategists, all of who make the event the largest and most vibrant of its kind in the UK
Contact: For more information please call Matt on 020 8541 1399, email
or click here to download the conference brochure. Alternatively visit www.healthcare-events.co.uk
Drugscope/LDAN Pathways to Employment in London guide
The UKDPC have published the reports of the first phase of their stigma project. These can be found at: http://www.ukdpc.org.uk/publications.shtml#Stigma_reports. A further report into experiences of stigma by drug users will be published in the near future.
This report provides an overview of the findings of a wide ranging research project looking at the extent and nature of stigma towards current and ex-drug users and their families. The research programme involved a public attitudes survey, an analysis of how drug use and drug users are portrayed in the print media and a qualitative study of the stigma experienced by current and ex-users and their families.
This research shows that people with a history of drug problems are heavily stigmatised and are seen as both blameworthy and to be feared. As a result they are subject to exclusion and discrimination in many areas. The stigmatisation of people with drug problems has serious consequences for government policy. Key policies seeking greater reintegration and recovery and moving people from benefits into work will not succeed while stigmatising attitudes are pervasive and, as a result, drug problems will remain entrenched rather than overcome. Experience from other fields, such as mental health, show that stigma can be reduced and the report suggests key areas for action.
Substance Misuse Skills Consortium
Monday, 29 November 2010
DRUG AND ALCOHOL TREATMENT SECTOR DRIVES UP STANDARDS OF CARE
Doctors, former drug users, healthcare managers and charities, among others, have formed a unique new partnership to drive up standards in drug and alcohol treatment in England and help more people achieve recovery.
The Substance Misuse Skills Consortium launches today (22 November) with an online gateway, the Skills Hub, offering easy access to hundreds of resources to help front line drug and alcohol workers improve services and achieve better results for those in their care.
This new resource gives everyone in the field the chance to share best practice and work together towards recovery for service users.
The chairman of the Skills Consortium, William Butler, said: “Everyone involved in drug and alcohol treatment wants to help users overcome addiction and achieve safe sustained recovery and reintegration into their communities. This is an important new initiative to harness the extensive knowledge in the sector to create a highly skilled and ambitious workforce to enable drug and alcohol users to succeed in treatment.”
Senior keyworker Zoe Gatland, who works with the Lifeline Project’s Blackburn young people’s service, said: "The Skills Consortium website looks fantastic. I look forward to using it myself and would encourage other practitioners to try this valuable resource.”
The NTA is providing the secretariat for the consortium. Paul Hayes, Chief Executive, said: “This is a home-grown initiative by employers and provider organisations to improve the skills and clinical practice of the drug and alcohol treatment workforce, and the NTA is helping to enable it become a self-sufficient operation.”
A challenging programme of work for the consortium in the coming year will support services in meeting the recovery ambitions of their users. It will include forming a sector-led consensus on how to develop the evidence base that supports effective treatment, ensuring that qualifications and training meet the needs of treatment services, and adding even more online resources to the Skills Hub.
UK Drug Policy Commission research into stigma
Tuesday, 05 October 2010
The UKDPC is undertaking a research project looking at the stigma associated with drug use. As part of this they are looking at the impact of stigma on the lives of people with a history of drug problems and their families, including its effect on help-seeking and recovery. If you have experienced problems with drug us...e at any time, as a user or family member, live in the UK and would like to take part in a short confidential web survey about your experiences of stigma go to: http://www.surveymonkey.com/s/UKDPC_stigma_survey_MALL
Other parts of the UKDPC project include a review of the literature (which was published last month), a public attitudes survey and an analysis of how the press portray drug users, which will be published together with the report of the study of user and families experiences that this survey is part of later this year. For more information on the project see http://www.ukdpc.org.uk/resources/Stigma_Project_Page.html
