Transcript National Needle Exchange Survey Report of qualitative findings

National Needle Exchange Survey
Report of qualitative findings
England and Scotland
Dawn Griesbach & Neil Hunt
National Conference on
Injecting Drug Use
Friday 14 October 2005
Accessibility and coverage
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Rural / urban distinctions
Outreach / secondary exchange
Anonymity in rural areas
Balance of pharmacy and ‘specialist’
services
• Opening times
• Needs of specific groups
2
Injecting paraphernalia
• Wide variation in practice – no standard
provision
• Concerns with inequity
• Issues of wastage – ‘pick ‘n’ mix’ vs packs
3
Monitoring and information systems
• Wide variation
• More developed among specialist services
than pharmacy services
• Further discussion needed?
4
Return rates / sharps disposal
• Difficult to monitor – seen as meaningless
• Variations in policies about returns – often
from one service to another
• Reported difficulties in some areas with
discarded sharps  media coverage
5
Young people
• Needle exchange to under-18s not
common – not clear why
6
Conclusions
• Encourage home delivery and outreach in rural
areas
• Need for guidance (and standards?) on
paraphernalia distribution
• Encourage closer working between nurse-led
NEXes and pharmacies
• Need for better guidance on NEX for under-18s
• Improved clarity around workforce competencies
and career hierarchy within NX/harm reduction
services
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