Donore Road site for HSE addiction centre
€400K SPENT ON OPENING SOCIAL INCLUSION CENTRE
A new HSE drug addiction centre will open on the Donore Road shortly, which is hoped will provide assistance to the services already provided locally.
Over €400,000 has been spent in renovating the former location of of the Mental Health Day Centre, which has now relocated to the primary care building in Peter Street.
The Drogheda HSE Addiction Services will be the central hub for Social Inclusion for counties Louth and Meath, and will include medical, therapeutic and outreach services. SUST, the under 18 service, will also operate from this building and will also cover counties Louth and Meath.
“Some of the services are new and very welcome to Drogheda, and it’s hoped that other services will want to link in with them,” says local TD Deputy Fergus O’Dowd. “Whilst I have been openly critical of the way the centre was developed without local consultation, I welcome the provision of the new services and the new line of communication that has been agreed between the stakeholders that we hope will lead to more positive outcomes for persons or families suffering from addiction issues.
‘ The Red Door on the Dublin Road is hugely important. Over recent months the drug crisis in Drogheda has escalated to a critical point where we have families and individuals presenting themselves on a weekly basis who have been deeply affected by addiction related issues.”
His comments came on the back of a visit the Deputy arranged last week with the HSE, The Red Door Project, the local Drugs Task Force and local Senator Ged Nash.
“Over the last 18 months I have been working closely with Louise and the team in the Red Door Project who provide an outstanding service locally,” he added. “It became evident from an early stage that the service has not been supported effectively by the HSE, this in turn has held back the service in terms of expanding and providing more targeted intervention work in the Drogheda area.
Primary Care Social Inclusion has the following services within its brief: Homeless, Addiction, SUST Addiction Services for under 18’s, Travellers, LGBT and Ethnic Minorities.
There will be 11 staff members operating from the building and this is set to increase as new staff comes on board. Three new staff members will join the team in the first quarter of 2019.
Between the methadone doctor, CNMII, screening, counselling, outreach and SUST there is potential to provide 100-150 interventions per week.