An insight into Adelaide Street Addiction Services

As part of Tackling Drugs, Saving Lives week, Rochdale Online takes a look into one of the organisations which provides a great help in Heywood.

Adelaide Street Addiction Services has been running for four years. The scheme consists of doctors, nurses and mental health workers, enabling patients to access all the help they need under one roof.

Dr Taylor, from the Adelaide Street Addiction Services, explained: “Our service is quite chaotic but it fits around the chaotic lifestyles of our patients. We are here to help anybody and everybody, if someone thinks they may have a drug problem they can turn up without an appointment and they will be enrolled onto a rehabilitation programme.”

The services take patients principally from Heywood, however there are an increasing number of patients from within the Borough who access the many services available at Adelaide Street, designed to give people the best chance of rebuilding their lives and supporting them back into education and employment.

Ann Sydall is a member of staff at Adelaide Street Addiction Services; she is described by some as an ‘agony aunt.’ Ann works tirelessly, all day every day, offering advice, allocating prescriptions, arranging appointments and much more to help many of the borough’s drug users.

For Ann the weeks are very busy, here is just a glimpse at was Ann does…

On a Monday, Ann tends to receive lots of telephone calls. Examples of these calls include a prison informing Adelaide Street that one of their patients has been detained, a Health Visitor concerned about the safety of Methadone in a home where there are small children and Social Services worried about the safety of a child.

At lunchtime there is a practice meeting to discuss the day-to-day running of Adelaide Street and a chance to catch up with any problems which need addressing.

Tuesday mornings are even busier for Ann, with two full sessions of patients booked in for acupuncture, Electro Stimulation Therapy (EST) and various massage treatments. These treatments help with cravings, withdrawal symptoms, anxiety and depression, all of which many of our patients suffer from.

The Needle Exchange at the services is also very busy with patients attending for clean ‘works’ which allows them to inject safely and avoid them contracting blood borne viruses such as Hepatitis B & C and HIV.

The busy pattern continues through to Wednesday as Ann fulfils the role of ‘Patient Adviser’. This role enables Ann to see patients on a one-to-one basis and to offer help and ongoing support and to refer them into the appropriate services who can offer specialised treatment. 

On this particular Wednesday Ann saw someone whose legs and feet were extremely swollen and painful. The man had also been experiencing seizures. He has a problem of drug and alcohol addiction. Ann advised him to allow the centre call an ambulance but the patient refused, and against our wishes, left surgery. Situations like this are a low point in the day, although there is not much Adelaide Street can do if a patient refuses treatment.

However, the day concluded with a high point as a patient told Ann about his troublesome childhood and how he had been abused and ill-treated from an early age. This patient has many problems but has managed to stay clean from illicit drugs for over a year. With lots of ongoing support, Adelaide Street can offer this person professional help.

On Thursday Ann is faced with the task of finding a person who suffers with alcohol addiction and has been homeless for a considerable time.

After several calls Ann finds him a bed in a ‘wet house’ which will allow him to continue to drink although he will be restricted on the quantity consumed. He was collected later that morning and taken to his new home. The man was so appreciative of the help provided and thrilled that he had been found a home.

Thursday is another busy day for appointments; several key workers attend the services, including an alcohol worker, a drug worker, an abstinence worker and an outreach worker.

The week ends for Ann with an especially busy day as people collect their prescriptions, some with queries around medication, others ordering repeat medication. On this particular Friday someone attended who was in a violent relationship and had suffered domestic violence. Another person felt suicidal and had attempted suicide recently. These are typical problems which Adelaide Street services are regularly faced with.
The GP at the services tends to have a full list on patients on a Friday; however, nobody is turned away, meaning it is well after 6pm before the services close.

Taking a snap shot of Ann’s week it is clear just how hard Ann and the rest of the team work at Adelaide Street Addiction Services.