Surrey Drug Users Sent to Kent for Treatment

Published on: 13 Mar, 2019
Updated on: 13 Mar, 2019

By Rebecca Curley

local democracy reporter

Drug users in Surrey needing overnight care to detox are being treated in Kent, a move hailed by health campaigners as a positive step to recovery.

Every year, about 3,000 people in Surrey are helped for alcohol and drug misuse. Therapy ranges from workshops, day clinics and overnight care.

Last July, Surrey County Council implemented changes in how it treats patients to bring it under the control of one provider, after a review of its sexual health and HIV services and financial pressures.

Since 2015/16, the council’s public health budget has fallen by 30%, money for substance misuse treatment cut by 24%.

Treatment is now provided by Surrey and Borders Partnership with Catalyst and is named i-access. Detox medication is given at day clinics at Farnham Road Hospital in Guildford and the Wingfield Resource Centre in Redhill. Taxis are provided for those who need help with transport.

Qualified nurses are also now visiting users in their homes to administer detox treatment. And those with “complex needs” are sent for residential treatment to Bridge House at Fant Oast in Maidstone, Kent.

Since July, 52 patients have attended day clinics, nine have gone to an intensive recovery group, one person is receiving treatment at home and two have been sent to Kent.

Windmill House, near St Peter’s Hospital in Chertsey, where patients were being treated, has closed and the land was for sale.

Last Friday (March 8), Matthew Parris, deputy chief executive of Healthwatch Surrey, told SCC health, integration and commissioning select committee that their analyses of the changes “did not identify any detrimental impact”.

He added: “People who are accessing the service are having a really positive experience, a positive outcome from their recovery journey. There was some concern about having a single point of contact.”

He said their research was just with a small sample of 37 people and that there was still more to be done to get the full picture of how the changes have affected patients.