NCJ Number
185373
Journal
Drugs: Education, Prevention and Policy Volume: 7 Issue: 3 Dated: August 2000 Pages: 257-277
Date Published
August 2000
Length
21 pages
Annotation
This article presents a case study analysis of a Primary Health Care/GP (General Practice)-led Community Drug and Health Care Service based on Wirral, Merseyside, England.
Abstract
The study involved semi-structured interviews with 11 staff members. The article presents salient descriptive elements of the services they provided, treatment approaches, and vignettes of real cases, to highlight the criteria used to measure effectiveness. The case study detailed biographical and service-specific data from a major provider of services to illicit drug users in northwest England. It systematically examined five main areas of work: making contact, assessing and treating health care problems, maintaining contact and promoting change, caring for vulnerable groups of users and reintegrating users into primary care. The case study illustrates how a considered and sound approach has gone some way to improve the health of a marginalized group. The case describes how General Practitioners, with support, can manage both "specialized" and stabilized illicit drug users within a holistic primary health care framework. Tables, references