Addiction services in need of serious overhaul

The SDLP Social Justice spokesperson said the Comptroller and Auditor General’s report “brings into sharp focus the very real price of alcohol and drug misuse”.

“Alcohol misuse alone costs the North as much as £900 million per year, not to mention the detrimental impact on families and communities. It is hard to believe that we have a Department of Health budget to tackle this of just £16 million. This shows very clearly that we have not got a grip on this matter.

“We are told that the number of people seeking support for drug misuse has also increased exponentially, with the total sum doubling from 2018 to 2019. The number of people dying from substance misuse has trebled in the last decade alone and we are told that the level of harm is most acute in areas of high deprivation.

“The North now also holds the distinction of prescribing the most pregabalin and diazepam per capita anywhere else in these islands. This is stark and we must tackle it. The North West has one of the highest levels of drug misuse and addiction on this island- in the New Decade New Approach deal, announced earlier this year, we were promised an addiction centre to address that need. We need to ensure that promise is upheld for the sake of the many families and individuals torn apart by addiction here, left without the support services they so desperately require.”

Mr Durkan said too many people have died as a result of substance misuse, and too many are “forced through addiction to seek support from a health service that is already stretched to capacity”. “I am calling on the Minister of Health to immediately review our current Drugs and Alcohol Strategy – which is already costing us £8 million – and to work alongside his Executive Ministers and develop a strategy that actually works. Every Minister must now address what contribution their Department can make to treating this lamentable illness.”