There is to be a city-wide review of drug and alcohol treatment services in Brighton & Hove to ensure services meet local needs.
The consultation aims to ensure that services offer the best opportunity for people who use legal as well as illegal substances and also alcohol to recover and reintegrate within the local community.
The review is for services for people aged over 18 years and over.
Existing services have been in place since 2007. Brighton & Hove City Council is working to put new drug and alcohol services in place from April 1, 2015.
The purpose of this consultation is to seek views from interested parties on future drug and alcohol treatment services.
The consultation is aimed at:
• Brighton and Hove residents who use local drug and alcohol treatment services, and their family, partners and friends
• People who have previously used drug and alcohol treatment services or those who are considering accessing drug or alcohol services in Brighton and Hove
• Professionals and member of the public with an interest in drug and alcohol services and issues in Brighton and Hove
Dr Peter Wilkinson, Brighton & Hove deputy director of public health, said:
“We want to make sure we provide the very best substance misuse and alcohol services for local people and that’s why we want as big a discussion city-wide as possible.
“We want to hear the views of residents who use the services and their families, partners and friends as well as former users of the services and other professionals and members of the public with an interest. If anyone knows of someone who might have a viewpoint please encourage them to take part. You will not be asked to register or leave any personal details.”
Closing date for responses is Wednesday, August 14, 2013.
The Brighton & Hove Community Voluntary Sector Forum have raised concerns with the City Council as to why this important consultation is only running for 3 weeks.
The Brighton and Hove Public Health Team have responded with the following points:
• The time of year for consultation was set by the schedule of transferring from Health to the Local Authority, so it could not of been done sooner, and it requires a lengthy lead in time for services to change from April 2015
* They are doing everything possible to ensure they implement a fair and transparent process – and are distributing the consultation as extensively as they can.
• The shaping of the draft specification has to be completed by October and will be developed as a result of combining findings from scoping national examples of good practice, evidence of need and the outcome of the consultation including online and the face to face interviews
• Time has been allowed for market development: There is time and the correct procedures in place for local Community Voluntary Sector partners to market themselves to potentially partner organisations.
• Time is needed to enter the two staged funding agreement process where they are able to receive first submissions and then negotiate/bring together potential submissions and then allow time for applicants to re-submit
To view the consultation, CLICK HERE:
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