Mum’s rehab agony
Waiting lists blow out for drug support services
DERWENT Valley woman Robyn Markwell says her heart is being ripped apart watching her 32-year-old son struggle to stay clean while he waits for support to help him recover from drug addiction.
Ms Markwell said her son, Darren Karger, moved to Tasmania from Brisbane three months ago to be near his mother and expected to be able to access support services.
She said Mr Karger had developed an addiction after being prescribed opioids for pain relief when he broke his leg.
But she said Mr Karger, who has been clean for three years, had not been able to access any support since arriving in Tasmania.
“He’s on a waiting list, they can’t give me an answer as to how long he has to wait,” Ms Markwell said.
“Every service he needs is full to capacity. It rips my heart out … I want to keep him on the road to recovery.”
Ms Markwell said her son was on a pharmacotherapy program in Brisbane to treat his opioid addiction but had not been able to access such a service in Tasmania.
Alcohol and Other Drugs Council chief executive Alison Lai said she was disappointed but not surprised to hear of Mr Karger’s situation.
“We have serious concerns regarding the waiting lists to access pharmacotherapy services, and this is an issue that we raised with the Tasmanian Health Minister when we met with him face-to-face three weeks ago,” Ms Lai said.
She said it was thought about 100 people were waiting to get on the program in the South.
Ms Lai said the State Government was not taking the resourcing of the alcohol and drug support sector seriously enough and there were waiting lists for drug and alcohol services across the board, including for counselling services and services for people leaving residential rehabilitation services and those in jail.
Health Minister Michael Ferguson said the Government provided $23 million for drug and alcohol supports each year and he said waiting lists were “managed by clinicians in line with clinical priorities”.
Mr Ferguson said 31 new residential rehabilitation beds were open in Tasmania.
“Pleasingly, the Alcohol and Drug Service has recently recruited a new doctor who commenced with the service in March this year,” he said.
“This new capacity will assist with providing more care, and comes on top of recent statistics from the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare that confirm there has been a 30 per cent increase in treatment provided through ADS since 2013-14.”