The UK’s first safer drug consumption facility has opened today and will have nurses on duty during all shifts.
‘The Thistle’ facility, based at the Hunter Street Health and Care Centre in Glasgow, will be open from 9am-9pm, 365 days a year, and is designed to be a safe space for people to inject drugs while under clinical supervision.
It will be staffed by clinical nurse specialists, adult nurses, mental health nurses and other health professionals who will be on hand to offer people safer injection techniques and provide harm reduction advice to minimise the risk of overdose. They will also be there to intervene with assistance if a person does overdose.
Safer drug consumption facilities (SDCF) have been used globally for decades, with facilities proven to reduce drug-related deaths and improve public health by offering clean and safe spaces for people to inject drugs under clinical supervision.
Lynn MacDonald, service manager at The Thistle – which is understood to be the first of its kind in the UK – said the facility has been designed to be as welcoming as possible and a place where all patients feel ‘safe and listened to’.
‘Staff have undergone significant training in trauma informed care and are ready to offer a compassionate, person-centred service with a focus on reducing the harms caused by injecting drugs and to help people access whatever support they need at the time,’ she explained.
Nursing staff will assess the physical and mental health of all people coming into the service and will offer harm reduction advice including on safer injecting practices.
They will also deliver clinical interventions based on the needs of service users, including wound care and responding to any emergency medical presentations.
Other team members include psychology professionals, harm reduction workers, social workers, medical staff and admin.
Saket Priyadarshi, associate medical director for alcohol and drug services at NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde, said the facility will provide vital clinical support to a ‘severely marginalised group’ and could help prevent drug deaths.
‘We will learn a lot in the first three to six months, and we will keep developing services in response to the needs of the individuals,’ he said.
‘A robust independent evaluation will help us understand the impact the service has had on people who use it and the local community.’
There have been calls for a SDCF in Glasgow following a large-scale outbreak of HIV in 2016.
An investigation and report into the outbreak, ‘Taking Away the Chaos’, identified a link to public injection and recommended a SDCF to meet the needs of the 400-500 people who inject daily in public spaces in Glasgow.
Today, the Scottish Affairs Committee launched an inquiry into the facility.
The inquiry will focus on the legal and policy challenges faced in setting up and running the facility, and the current legal position and challenges it represents, as well as the facility’s effectiveness in reducing drug-related deaths in Scotland.
Also in December, the UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA) reported a decline in hepatitis C among people who inject drugs.
