Transcript document
Glasgow Involvement Group
Views from injecting drugs users in
Glasgow
Pathways to Treatment and Care Conference
Stirling Royal Infirmary
30th September 2004
Study Background
Catchment Group
Existing Users of Needle Exchanges
Previous Users of Needle Exchanges
IDUs who have never used Needles Exchanges
Methods
Structured Outreach Interviews
Self Completion Survey
Focus Groups
Sample Profile
Sample size was N= 76
76% were male
Average age was 33
Majority (52%) didn’t have own accommodation
The main sources of income in the preceding six
months were
Unemployed with regular income from Government (81%)
Illegal Activities (47%)
Current Drug Use
Illicit Drug Use
All using heroin
The next most commonly illicitly obtained drugs are
Valium (68%)
Cocaine (39%)
Cannabis (37%)
Crack (14%)
DFs (12%)
Current Drug Use
Prescribed
47 (62%) were being prescribed substitute drugs
All prescribed methadone with 25% prescribed
more than one drug.
Majority prescribed methadone was between 60
and 120 mls – range from 18-160 mls
Risk Behaviour
Injecting
Only one person was not currently injecting heroin
49 [65%] of those injecting heroin originally smoked it
22 [45%] of those who initially smoked, moved to injecting within
6 months
48% were injecting at least twice a day
27 out of 30 [90%] using cocaine were injecting it
Most common reason for injecting was peer pressure (33%)
Three quarters stated that it was a “spur of the moment” when
first injected
Only four (5%) said that they had ever been shown how to
safely inject but 64% would access safer injecting training if
available
Risk Behaviour
Sharing
Needles/Syringes
70% [n=52] had shared needles/syringes
34% of these had shared in the previous 3 months
Injecting Paraphernalia
87% [n=65] had shared paraphernalia
68% of these had shared in previous 3 months
Blood Borne Viruses
Information
Types of information - leaflets, advice from a worker and a
booklet
47% had been given information
Information Rating
25% good to very good
56% OK
19% poor to very poor
Tests:
HIV
Hep B
Hep C
– 58%
– 54%
– 67%
(0) tested positive
(2) tested positive
(26) tested positive
Blood Borne Viruses
Knowledge Transmission Routes
Needle risk – 97% easy to catch HIV/Hep C from “dirty
needles”
Injecting Paraphernalia risk
— HIV
- 40% [no risk, not easy, don’t know]
— Hep C
- 15% [no risk, not easy, don’t know]
Needle Exchange
Accessibility
50% were using pharmacy needle exchanges but the
most common needle exchange used was GDCC
(37%)
82% stated that opening hours were suitable and only
2 people saw opening hours as barrier to accessing
NXs
56% of those who expressed a view believed there
were sufficient places to get clean equipment.
Needle Exchange
Quality of Service
Information Provision
“Very Poor” was the most common response to rating the
information provided by NX
Staff Attitudes
Positive response with 46% rating the staff’s attitude as good
or very good
10% of responses poor or very poor.
Privacy/Confidentiality/Safety
Majority (65%) stated that there was sufficient privacy at NX
76% believe that the information provided is treated in
confidence
20% had concerns about their safety when attending NX
Needle Exchange
Return Policy
76% say that they always return used needed/syringes
Over half the sample [51%] stated the return policy is a good policy
Barriers to Needle Exchanges
29% stated that there were no barriers
The four most common barriers were:
Privacy (30%)
Police (20%)
Stigma (17%)
Fear of losing script (16%)
Needle Exchange
Service Improvement
5 most frequently identified items that the respondents
would like to be provided with are:
Sterile Injecting Equipment (59%)
Acidifiers (41%)
Access to Community Rehabilitation (37%)
Spoons (34%)
Injectable Drugs (34%)
Training
63% would like safer injection training
50% would like first aid training
79% would like overdose training
Pharmacy NX / Addiction Service NX
Rating of service
Staff attitudes
Privacy
Safety
Rating information provision
Injecting Techniques
Physical Health needs
Sexual Health Needs
Abscesses/Wound advice
General Drug Information
Addiction Service NX rated more positively on all topics bar safety
Pharmacy NX / Addiction Service NX
BBV Information
Pharmacy
- 82% positively rated
Addiction Service
- 78% positively rated
Prescribed V Non Prescribed
Impact on risk behaviour& injecting practises
Prescribed
76% sharing needles
91% sharing paraphernalia
54% shared needles in last month
Non prescribed
59% sharing needles
79% sharing paraphernalia
29% shared needles in last month
Conclusions
Information Provision needs to be improved
Issues still around lack of knowledge re BBVs and high
risk injecting practises
NXs need to play a more prominent role in reducing harm
associated with drug injecting
More training needed on safer injecting /fatal overdose
provision
Better screening and case management is required for
those on substitute prescribing programmes
For this group of drug users, the Substitute Prescribing
Programmes may not be achieving its key treatment
objectives
Full report due December
www.sdf.org.uk