27/05/2009
Sandwell DAAT are organising a public event in support of the Home Office’s National Tackling Drugs Week (8 – 12 June).
The event is being held at Queen’s Square Shopping Centre, West Bromwich on Thursday 11th June, between 10am – 4pm and all members of the public are invited to attend.
A range of partnership agencies – including drug and alcohol treatment and support services, police, street wardens, antisocial behaviour team and young people’s services – will be providing information and engaging with the public to raise awareness of what is being done in Sandwell to help tackle the harm caused by drug misuse.
A reporter from the local press has also been invited by Sandwell DAAT on 5th June to ‘walk-through’ the Drug Interventions Programme (i.e. DIP) and report on her experience. After being ‘drug tested’, ‘assessed’ and ‘referred’ for treatment by arrest referral and court workers, she will be given an overview of the treatment and support services available.
Click here to view Queen’s Square flyer http://www.sandwelldaat.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/tackling-drugs-flyer-coi.pdf
17/03/2009
On Friday 6th March, Sandwell’s Mayor (Cllr. Robert Price) opened Metro Court, the new central hub for the borough’s drug and alcohol treatment services.
The event was chaired by Allison Fraser (Chief Exec. Sandwell Council & Chair, Safer Sandwell Partnership Board) and attendees included: Bob Piper (Chair, Sandwell Mental Health & Social Care Trust), Cllr. Derek Rowley (Cabinet Member for Safer Communities), John Middleton (Dir. Public Health, Sandwell PCT), John Garrett (Exec. Dir. Adult & Community Services) and Steve Dugmore (Chief Superintendent of WMP).
Some very positive feedback was received from delegates on both the high quality clinical facilities and the services being provided from Metro Court. And as well as a lot of eating, a great deal of networking was done! The launch also drew a fair amount of media attention, with articles in the local press and an interview with Beacon radio.
Metro Court based participants putting on displays included Open Sandwell, Turning Point, Drug Concern, Anchor and Sandwell DAAT; demonstrating the range of support available to users, their families and the community.
The launch symbolized a great, new beginning for Sandwell’s drug and alcohol treatment services and delegates looked forward to a positive future.
For further information, contact Iqubal Birdi at Sandwell DAAT on 0121 612 5061.
30/12/2008
Sandwell Drug and Alcohol Action Team (DAAT) will be moving from West House, to new premises on Monday 12th January 2009. The new address will be: Sandwell DAAT, 2nd Fl, Metro Court, 150 High Street, West Bromwich, B70 6JJ.Telephone numbers and email addresses for DAAT staff will remain the same.
The move is part of a wider reconfiguration of treatment services in Sandwell. Whereas previously, drug treatment services were situated in different locations in Sandwell, they have now co-located, to provide a more integrated, ‘one-stop’, service; providing both, open-access / community-based and structured treatment services. Whilst the main treatment services will be based at Metro Court; other organisations providing satellite services from the base include housing, structured day services and support services for those affected by others’ drug use.
The telephone number (from 5th January) for the new, open access/community-based, Tier 2 drug service (‘Open Sandwell’) at Metro Court will be: 0121 612 5080
The telephone number for Anchor, the Tier 3 structured treatment service remains the same: 0845 112 0100
The new telephone number (from 30th January) for Drug Concern (for Carers and concerned others) will be: 0121 612 5079
A launch/open-day event organized by DAAT for the newly located services will be held on Friday 6th March 09.
15/10/2008
Sandwell DAAT are pleased to announce that they have awarded Aquarius a contract for providing a ‘Tier 2′ (community-based / open access) drug service in Sandwell. It is hoped the service will commence before Christmas 2008. Please watch this space for further details e.g. opening dates, services, location/s and contact details.
18/08/2008
West Midlands to Hold Big Drink Debate Monday 29 September 2008 (provisional launch date)
This autumn, people who live and work in the region will have the opportunity to give their opinions on various issues to do with the subject of Alcohol. The West Midlands has a somewhat volatile relationship with alcohol, with some of our local areas featuring amongst the worst for alcohol related hospital admissions in the country. This debate will give people the opportunity to voice their opinion about what they think should be done to reduce the impact of alcohol related harm.
The Big Drink Debate West Midlands is currently being developed but if anyone is interested in getting involved in helping to run local events or giving the debate a push when the time comes then please contact Nigel Smith at Department of Health West Midlands nigel.smith@dh.gsi.gov.uk. (0121 352 5327)
For more information about the impact of alcohol related harm in the West Midlands please visit:
http://www.gowm.gov.uk/gowm/PublicHealth/?a=42496
18/08/2008
The Drug Interventions Programme (DIP) has achieved a milestone of getting 1000 people (across England & Wales) a week into treatment via the Criminal Justice System (SR2004 PSA 4 target).
• The Home Office has had a long-standing target to increase the number of drug-misusing offenders entering treatment through the criminal justice system to 1,000 a week by the end of March 2008.
• This target was achieved two months early, in January 2008, a massive achievement from a baseline of just 438 people going into treatment in the month of March 2004. Figures show there are now, consistently, more than 4000 people a month entering treatment – a ten-fold increase over the baseline figure.
• This achievement is the result of new ways of working and key legislative changes, introduced through the Drug Interventions Programme.
• DIP aims to get drug-misusing offenders out of crime and into treatment and other support, and helps break the destructive cycle of drugs-offending-prison across England and Wales.
• We know that this is more cost effective than putting offenders through the criminal justice system repeatedly without support to help them address their drug problem. For every £1 spent on drug treatment, at least £9.50 is saved in health and crime costs.
• But this is not a soft option. The programme puts tough choices before drug misusing offenders. Through DIP we have introduced compulsory drug testing on arrest or charge and compulsory assessment and follow up assessment by a drugs worker. And there are sanctions – including a possible prison sentence – for those who do not comply.
• Reaching this key target is a huge achievement. But it is not just about numbers. Many DIP clients are among the most problematic drug misusers with the most chaotic lifestyles. Their offending has a major impact on our communities, so every person who has been lifted out of the downward spiral of crime and drugs is a real success story.
• DIP has been hugely successful in helping to reduce drug-related crime and offending in England and Wales:
- Since the programme began, recorded acquisitive crime – to which drug-related crime makes a substantial contribution – has fallen by a fifth.
- Home Office research (on a cohort of 7,727 individuals) found that the overall volume of offending was 26% lower following contact with DIP, with reductions of around 79% for almost half of the offenders.
- Local evaluations echo these findings and highlight a range of other areas where the Programme is having a positive impact.
• DIP offers a win-win solution: drug-misusing offenders get help through treatment and support; communities suffer less crime and criminal justice costs are reduced.
• That is why DIP continues to sit at the heart of the new national Drug Strategy. It remains a key component for delivering against a range of cross-Government targets and indicators concerned with reducing offending and drug misuse, improving health and fighting social exclusion.
12/05/2008
Building on last May’s National Tackling Drugs Day (23 May) and the recent announcement of its new, £1 billion, 10-year drug strategy (“Drugs: protecting families and communities”): the Home Office’s first, National Tackling Drugs Week (19 – 23 May), seeks to raise awareness of the work being undertaken by agencies (Drug & Alcohol Action Teams – DAATs, Community Safety Partnerships, Neighbourhood Policing teams and Police Forces) to tackle drugs and reduce drug-related crime.
The Sandwell DAAT and its partners in the Safer Sandwell Partnership (SSP) are responsible for delivering the national strategy at a local level. National Tackling Drugs Week sees the launch of:
-
A new Sandwell DAAT Website (www.sandwelldaat.co.uk), which will provide information for both professionals and people in the community wanting to find out about the strategy or are concerned about their own or someone else’s drug and/or alcohol use.
-
A leaflet designed to provide information on local treatment services and action to tackle drugs and alcohol problems, which will be widely distributed within community settings and residences.
