Telford drug strategy reaching out to more

But work to continue the successful programme could be at risk from budget cuts, it has been revealed.

Five years after the strategy was launched, the proportion of alcohol addicts finishing their treatment course has risen from under a third to nearly half, according to a report by public health consultant Helen Onions.

She adds that 16 per cent more non-opiate drug users are in rehab, compared to 2014 figures.

But the report says future work to tackle substance misuse could be impacted by the need to find £25 million of cuts by 2022.

The Telford & Wrekin Drug and Alcohol Strategy was first approved by the borough’s cabinet in 2014.

“The ambitious programme of work undertaken in the past five years has won a series of awards,” Ms Onions writes.

“Through the implementation of the strategy, our treatment and recovery services have been transformed and modernised.”

Priorities

Achievements include delivering drug and alcohol awareness sessions to more than 3,000 10- to 13-year-olds every year, she says.

Ms Onions adds that they have “provided substance misuse training and awareness-raising to an average of 350 practitioners across organisations every year” and “potentially saved over 30 lives by making Naloxone, an overdose reversal drug, widely available”.

She writes that the key priorities of the updated 2019 to 2022 strategy are to target alcohol consumption advice to the most vulnerable people, improve drug treatment and recovery rates and support children who are affected by substance misuse more intensively.

A section of the report, titled “Financial / value for money impact”, says: “The council holds a specific budget in support of Substance Misuse Services which is funded from the Public Health Grant and a contribution from the Police and Crime Commissioner.

“In 2019-20 this budget is £1.971 million, which includes £80,000 of one-off resources and a £60,000 contribution from the PCC.

“Further reductions and changes to Public Health Grant allocations, and other council funding, is expected in future years.

“The council will need to find further savings of between £25 million over the next two years, 2020/21 and 2021/22, and this may impact on the funding for this work stream.

“It is anticipated any work associated with the recommendations in this report will be met from within the available resources and this will be kept under review as part of the programmed monitoring process.”

Telford and Wrekin’s Health and Wellbeing Board will discuss the report when it meets on Thursday, June 5.