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9. Training for Service Professionals, Staff and the Voluntary Sector
RECOMMENDATION 10 
The NHS in Scotland and relevant partners (e.g. Royal Colleges and academic institutions) should consider supporting the development of a national process to promote good practice in the delivery of medical treatment to drug misusers. This should include availability of a comprehensive range of accredited training (Scottish Training on Drugs and Alcohol ( STRADA)), The Royal College of General Practitioners ( RCGP); and the development of meaningful prescribing guidance, such as a (Scottish Intercollegiate Guidelines Network ( SIGN) guideline); and the creation of clinical governance (managed care) networks. |
The Executive supports this recommendation.
More and more drug misusers are accessing treatment services, some via criminal justice interventions, e.g. Drug Treatment and Testing Orders ( DTTOs). It is therefore essential to have trained staff in place to deal with these increased numbers. The Executive recognises the importance of GPs and their role in providing support and treatment to drug misusers. However, there is currently a shortage of trained GPs. The Executive hopes to address this issue with a substantial investment in training. This should help to increase the number of GPs caring for people with drug problems.
TAKING ACTION
- The Executive will work with the Scottish Intercollegiate Group on Alcohol, NHS Education Scotland, medical and nursing schools and colleges, STRADA, the Scottish Institute for Excellence in Social Work Education, and other relevant bodies and professional groups, to develop a co-ordinated national drugs and alcohol training strategy by mid 2006. The strategy will consider the implications of wider initiatives and work including the development of single shared assessment, Joint Future, and the publication of the Health Technology Assessment ( HTA) and SIGN guideline, Mind the Gaps, A Fuller Life, Hidden Harm13 and Getting Our Priorities Right 14.
- The Executive has provided two year funding to the RCGP to develop and deliver the RCGP Certificate in the Management of Drug Misuse in Primary Care in Scotland.
- The Executive funds STRADA to improve the skills of professional staff, who address drug and alcohol misuse throughout Scotland, to ensure that interventions introduced are based on the evidence of 'what works'.
- The Executive will work with the Department of Health and counterparts from Wales and Northern Ireland to update existing clinical guidelines on Drug Misuse and Dependence, after current work by the National Institute for Clinical Excellence for England and Wales is completed.
RECOMMENDATION 11
Resources should be made available to allow prison medical and nursing staff to undertake the RCGP Certificates in the Management of Drug Misuse in Primary Care and the Universities of Nottingham and Lincoln Prison Medicine programmes. In addition, the SPS in conjunction with the SDF should adapt critical incident resuscitation awareness training for use within the prison setting. |
The Executive supports the SPS in the work it undertakes with drug misusers and the efforts made to ensure that it's staff are trained to the highest level, guaranteeing a high standard of care for prisoners affected by drug misuse.
TAKING ACTION
- The SPS have developed a Critical Incidents awareness package. The package will be piloted in HMP Dumfries and HMP & YOI Polmont in March 2006. It will provide resuscitation and overdose awareness training for staff and prisoners.
RECOMMENDATION 12
Training aimed at raising awareness and improving co-ordination of activity for those generic staff most likely to come into contact with people vulnerable to overdose should be provided as a matter of urgency. |
The Executive supports this recommendation.
TAKING ACTION
- The SDF first aid training package, funded by the Executive, also covers training for generic staff.
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