Nurse speaks out over ‘shocking’ care of drug users

A FORMER nurse has spoken out against the “shocking” way drug addicts are being looked after in Dundee.

Patients at Tayside Drug Problems Service in the city are going for months without treatment, with staffing levels half of what they should be, the source says.

The whistleblower said it is “without doubt” that treatment delays are a factor in at least some client deaths.

The nurse, who did not want to be named, said: “The addicts are not properly looked after at all. Services are poor, with inexperienced staff who have little or no experience of dealing with clients. It is not staffed properly with the correct mix of clinicians, and they are constantly off sick, with managers leaving.”

The experience of returning to Dundee and working for the NHS has been horrific, the source said.

The former NHS worker, who worked at the service on Constitution Road i n 2015-16, added: “It is shocking because they are not getting treated properly. Everyone working there is too scared to speak out.”

The source said each clinician at t h e Tay s i d e Substance Misuse Services, which includes the Constitution Road drug centre, has a caseload of up to 70 clients.

The health worker said that workload is double that seen at comparable services in other parts of the country and leaves users waiting for periods of up to a year between therapies.

Official figures published in the summer revealed there were 36 drugs-related fatalities in the city in 2015, a death-rate t wice t he national average.

David Lynch, chief officer at Dundee Health and Social Care Partnership, said the concerns have not been raised and he’d encourage staff to report problems to their line manager.