The number of people waiting for opioid substitution treatment in the 13-month period from the end of March 2011 to the end of April 2012 has fallen by 19 per cent, new figures reveal.
The HSE has seen a reduction from 230 to 187 in the number of people on drug treatment waiting lists. Some 22 of its 48 clinics have no waiting times, and 33 of the 48 have waiting times of less than a month.
The longest waiting times were in the Midlands (Portlaoise Clinic had an average waiting time (AWT) of 5.7 months), the North-East (Louth Drug Service had an AWT of 4.4 months), and in pockets of Dublin (Castle St Clinic had an AWT of 2.9 months).
However, even in areas where waiting times remain high, there is a significant downward trend — from 10 months to three months in Athlone; from 7.5 months to less than a month in the City Clinic in Dublin; from seven months to one month at the Dr Stevens Clinic; from seven months to four months in Louth; and from seven months to two months in Waterford.
Welcoming the decline in waiting lists, Minister of State Róisín Shortall said that since taking on responsibility for the implementation of the National Drugs Strategy, she had made the provision of treatment a priority, with a particular focus on helping people to move on to drug-free lifestyles: “The figures show that the work being done is having positive outcomes, though much more remains to be done.”
Minister Shortall added that over the past two years, additional services had been provided in Wexford, Waterford, Kilkenny, Cork, Tralee, Limerick and Dundalk.
Source: Dara Gantly, Irish Medical Times, 08/08/2012
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