Concerns grow over funding threat to lifeline service

Casualty is just a stone’s throw away if any one of them takes a turn for the worse but every day and night for 365 days of the year staff at the Beechwood House complex on Old Perth Road are on hand to help addicts turn their lives around.

Any one of us could find ourselves on the slippery slope to drug or alcohol addiction regardless of age, class, gender or race, warns Gerry Robson, head of substance misuse services for CrossReach which runs the centre next to Raigmore Hospital.

Often the temptation to drink or take drugs starts with a life changing experience such as a marriage breakdown, death, loss of job or something equally as devastating.

For others it is a form of escape — a way of forgetting an unpleasant experience or difficult period in their life.

But for all there is often only one solution to a more stable life and that is to face up to the addiction.

At Beechwood House a team of dedicated staff are able to provide the support, help and advice needed to enable people to make that change.

The complex is split into two very distinct parts, a rehabilitation centre and a designated place, which was set up around 12 years ago, partly in response to the number of deaths occurring in police cells.

The designated place gives people who have been found on the streets and arrested for drunken-ness a safe place to sober up.

It is a small unit which contains eight rooms, each equipped with a bed and a chair.

There is nothing fancy about it. It has wipe clean floors, a small block of toilets and safe shower.

“It is basic but functional,” explains Mr Robson, who was once homeless himself and although never an addict, confessed to having a problem with alcohol.

“The main aim is to keep people alive until they sober up,” he explained.

A team of between eight and 10 people, including a clinical nurse, social care workers, support workers and specific designated place workers, are based at the centre.

As well as those brought by police officers the complex also takes patient referrals from GPs and the casualty department at Raigmore.

Each person is given their own bed and checks are carried out every 15 minutes by staff to monitor their health and well-being.

“You should never assume someone is drunk just because you can smell alcohol on their breath,” said Mr Robson, who explained that sometimes people can appear to be drunk but actually there may other underlying reasons for their behaviour such as diabetes.

He said staff at the centre were trained to pick up these signs to ensure the maximum safety and well-being of people brought in.

Once sober an in-depth assessment is carried out with each person to try and establish the root of their addiction.

For those wanting to make a change, the centre has four more bedrooms where people can stay for up 14 days to get the support they need.

After that they can move on to a more in-depth 14-week rehabilitation programme which is run from a different building opposite the centre.

Beechwood House. Iona Spence

Here there are 15 bedrooms with en suite shower and toilet facilities, a communal dining area, television lounge and a number of therapy rooms.

Most of the people admitted to the programme are hard-edge addicts who have reached the end of the road and have nowhere else to turn.

Many have lost their jobs and are homeless and for some, the next step could easily be death.

The course is designed to try and help people change their mind-set and help them to make better decisions about their life.

It also aims to try and give people the information and support they need to secure their own tenancy and get back into work.

Here there is a further team of eight staff, some of whom are ex-addicts who have been trained to work as therapists.

Mr Robson says these people form a valuable part of the work being undertaken.

“You can understand addiction and talk about it on an intellectual level but unless you have sat in the darkness of the night and looked out into nothingness you cannot convey that bleakness,” he said.

The programme helps around 60 people a year with a further 1000 passing through the doors of the designated place, which is seen as a vital service in Inverness.

However, doubts have arisen recently over the future of this part of the centre, sparking fears that it could close.

Highland Council currently funds the centre to the tune of £460,000 but is looking to slash that amount by £200,000 in its 2010/11 social work budget.

Instead it wants Northern Constabulary and NHS Highland to contribute towards the centre’s finances.

The council has said all options will be explored to secure funding, but no decisions have yet been made and Mr Robson is increasingly concerned a solution may not be found.

He argues the centre helps to save lives and is worried that it will put added pressure on accident and emergency services and could lead to an increased risk of death if it closes.

One of the added benefits for people being taken to Beechwood instead of police custody is that they have the opportunity to face up to their addiction problems without the added complication of having a criminal record being added to their problems.

Closure of the service could result in a loss of opportunity for people to face up to their addictions.

The centre is open 24 hours a day, all year round and is one of only two designated places in Scotland, the other being Aberdeen which is also under threat.

Mr Robson fears funding may be withdrawn by the council without the true implications being realised.