Minister visits HSE’s Waterford Substance Misuse Team

The HSE’s Substance Misuse Team in Waterford were delighted to host a visit to their premises at St. Otteran’s Hospital by the Minister of State at the Dept. of Health with responsibility for the National Drugs Strategy Colm Burke TD.

The Minister was welcomed by Lisa Robson, Clinical Lead/Substance Misuse, HSE/South East Community Healthcare, where Minister Burke heard from various team members as to an overview of the services it provides. The Minister also heard from members of the HSE’s Health and Wellbeing team locally, including on initiatives on smoking cessation and as part of Sláintecare’s healthy communities programme.

The Substance Misuse services comprise of range of free and confidential services in Waterford City and County. This service is for anyone affected by problematic drugs or alcohol misuse and can be accessed by individuals regardless of what stage they are at, across the spectrum of addiction. The services’ mission is to promote wellness and recovery while improving the overall quality of life for individuals and their families struggling with substance misuse.

The HSE Substance Misuse service works in an inter-agency, care and case management approach to ensure that complex needs of service users and their families are met.

The Substance Misuse recovery team in Waterford comprises of: GPs, an Assistant Director of Nursing, a Substance Misuse Liaison Nurses, a Drug and Alcohol Liaison Midwife, a Senior Counsellor, Addiction Counsellors, Community based Drug and Alcohol workers, Outreach Workers, Drugs Education Officer, local Substance Misuse Co-ordinators and a Clinical Lead. The team also work with Primary Care GPs and community pharmacies in providing a patient centred approach.

Services provided by the Substance Misuse Team include:

• Drug Education and Prevention: The Drug education officers work in partnership with the Community Based Drugs Initiative workers in the voluntary sector to provide drug education and awareness programmes to individuals, their families and the community. They work with schools and colleges supporting the provision of drug education and the development of drug policies.   
• Drugs Outreach and community based drug initiative: These workers provide harm reduction education, relapse prevention and family support.
• Needle and syringe programme: This service is available within the Waterford HSE service and community pharmacies as part of the harm reduction programme. These services not only provide clean injecting equipment but also provide harm reduction education, overdose awareness and linkage to treatment within the Substance Misuse Services.
• Individual and Group Counselling: HSE Substance Misuse service provides both one to one and group counselling sessions.  Counsellors are employed directly by the HSE. In addition, the Substance Misuse teams are supported by Mental Health Addiction Counsellors who are employed through the HSE Mental Health services in Brook House, Waterford.
• Homeless Outreach Service: The Homeless Outreach Workers work with individuals who are homeless or at risk of being homeless and have a substance misuse issue.
• Opioid Agonist Therapy: Methadone/Buprenorphine treatment is available within Waterford City and is also now available in the West Waterford area. Methadone/Buprenorphine treatment (OAT) is provided as part of a holistic package of care which includes psycho-social support. The services work to ensure that all service users have a comprehensive assessment and care plan in place with a full range of treatment options to meet the needs of the individual. 
• Dual Diagnosis OAT Clinic: This Clinic is supported by the Mental Health service for service users who have a dual diagnosis and require OAT.
• Substance Misuse Liaison Nurses: These nurses work as part of the substance misuse teams and provide nursing assessments, care planning and interventions which may include blood borne virus screening, vaccination, physical and mental health support in a holistic way. They also work with community based GPs to support individuals to engage in community based detoxification programmes.  
• Substance Misuse Liaison Nurse, University Hospital Waterford (UHW): The Liaison nurse in UHW is one of the first posts of its kind to have been established nationally, based on recommendations in a previous National Drug Strategy. This post provides screening and brief intervention and onward referral for people attending the acute hospital with drug or alcohol related issues. The post also provides support and education for staff within the acute setting.
•  The Drug and Alcohol Liaison Midwife post: This a regional post and works collaboratively with the four Maternity Hospitals in the South East, providing intervention and support to pregnant women and their families experiencing substance misuse issues. This service in now in operation just over a year.
• SECAS- South East Cocaine Addiction Support: Online support for the South East region for service users and their families impacted by cocaine and/or crack cocaine use
• Trauma Informed Care Initiative: In Collaboration with the South East Regional Drug and Alcohol Task Force, this programme is hosted by a S39 agency and HSE funded- to develop a co-produced programme of training and implementation of change to support Addiction and Homeless services becoming trauma informed.
• Regional Early Alert group for substances of concern: This involves Emergency Department Consultants in the South East Region in partnership with the HSE’s Clinical Lead Substance Misuse and regional clinical team.
• “Better Together” online peer support: In collaboration with the South East Regional Drug and Alcohol Task Force and the Fr McGrath Centre (Kilkenny), available online for people in Waterford wishing to engage with online peer support.
• Family Support: Family Support Services are provided in Waterford. This incorporates, one to one and group support.

Contact can be made with the HSE’s Waterford Substance Misuse Team on (051) 848 658. Self-referrals can be facilitated, in addition to those made to the Substance Misuse team by a GP, healthcare professional or support worker.

A range of resources on substance misuse (including in several languages) is available on the HSE’s www.Drugs.ie.

The HSE’s Drugs and Alcohol Helpline can also be contacted on its confidential free-phone helpline on (1800) 459 459 (from Monday to Friday between 9:30am and 5:30 pm).

You can e-mail the Drugs and Alcohol Helpline at any time at helpline@hse.ie. You can also leave a voice-mail message to ask for a call back or e-mail requesting a call back too. See https://www.hse.ie/eng/services/list/5/addiction/drugshivhelpline/