Users Rights Whilst in Treatment:

This part of the OUT web page aims to enable users to read what their rights are, states what the new initiatives being tried and tested in the UK are and aims to educate users on their rights and responsibilities whilst in drug treatment.
In 2004, the NTA produced a document called Models of Care (MOC), this is the framework that all drug services should work to.  It clearly sets out ways in which users should be consulted in regards to their own treatment and the way the services they access should be run, this can be done in many ways, but, it is meant to ensure that service users can access services that they feel suit heir needs and if they don’t, service users should be involved in shaping those service to suit the needs of drug users in that locality.   As yet, some services are not carrying out this exercise.  If any user wishes to know what their rights are whilst in treatment with any service, they can ask for a ‘service users charter’ to be put into place, or offer a users perspective on what the set ‘rules and regulations’ of that service are.  OUT a service users charter that can be used by services as a guide.  See “contact OUT”.

The following text sets out the basic rights that drug users have whilst accessing services and in treatment including some of the information set out by the NTA in regards to user involvement and in MOC regarding access, retention and humane treatment of drug users:
 
Care Planning
When you enter into treatment in all areas throughout all tiers of treatment in the UK, you should be given a ‘care plan’.  This plan should be created between you and your key worker or other nominated worker at the service(s) you attend. It may transpire that you are accessing a number of treatment services and so, you may have just one worker within the service you access most that is your ‘care coordinator’, ensure you ask your service who your care coordinator is and their contact details.   The care plan is a document that enables the user to see where their treatment is going and should include attainable goals.  Even if your goal is just to reduce the amount of ‘street’ drugs you use and stick to your script, this is a valuable part of your care plan, a valuable goal to you and should be recorded. The plan can include whatever goals suit YOU and should be explained to you thoroughly at your start of any treatment modality/type, along with. The Care Plan is for YOU, so be sure that you have one and that the plan is revisited every time your treatment pathway changes. For example if your methadone is put up to 70mls and you have agreed with your worker you will stay on this amount until you are ready to reduce and have other support in place to make this possible, then this should be recorded in your plan.  It is handy to know what your plan says about your treatment for many reasons, for example, if your usual worker is on annual leave so you are seeing another worker whilst he/she is away, they may want to change your dose or direction of your treatment, the care plan gives you a way of stating that you wish your treatment to stay as it is until a full review of your care plan is undertaken by YOU and your usual worker.

Those 3 levels of U/I are:

1. Individual User Involvement – this level involves educating individual users on their rights within the treatment system, what services are out there to best suit their needs, what standard of treatment they should expect to receive and other information such as how long waiting times are for certain interventions, services could cover this by giving out a basic information pack at 1 st assessment stage, offering all this information to them.
2. Service Level User Involvement – This level of U/I involve services themselves ensuring U/I takes place within the services accessed by drug users they manage or work in. This level of U/I can be fulfilled by the service staff themselves or by a local user group entering a service and carrying this work out on behalf of them. The type of activity will ensure that services are adhering to guidance re involving service users in the services they access set out in Models of Care
3. Strategic Level User Involvement – This level of U/I would involve a paid user involvement facilitator and/or, individual user group members or user representatives from the local area, who have received training, sitting at strategic level, being involved in JCG’s, DIP implementation meetings, attending DAAT quarterly review meetings and other strategic and decision making meetings whether these are PCT or DAAT led, reporting back to the DAAT Board on what users in the local area think is good and bad about the local treatment system by way of questionnaires designed by the User Group and DAAT, in partnership, to ensure the right questions are asked and that the results are taken on board and acted upon.

DAAT’s have to evidence how user feedback has influenced the treatment plan process and the content of the treatment plan. It is not enough to employ a User Involvement worker who struggles along blindly for a few months until they come across a group such as OUT who can given them all the information they need to make a change within their post. Many are employed by outside agencies who do not have a clue about drug treatment specific user involvement and hold back the process with internal and external politics. Oxfordshire is a perfect example of how U/I can improve a treatment system and make big changes that positively affect the lives of individuals. User Groups themselves can get involved in anything they wish to and often find that delivering peer led services, such as we do at OUT, is the perfect add on to a good group run effectively by current or ex drug users.

Waiting times for treatment
As mentioned above, you have the right to expect to be treated for your drug addiction within a certain amount of time, the waiting times that are set out in MOC and are monitored by the NTA vary, depending on what type of treatment you want and what type of treatment your workers agree with you is best to suit your needs as an individual. These waiting times should reflect the time it takes from you 1st entering a service and stating your needs/requesting an initial assessment of your needs, though to, receiving the 1st bit of medication you are prescribed is in your hands. 

These waiting times vary regarding prescribing if you enter treatment through the Drug Intervention Programme route, see link to “DIP” on OUT’s Home Page.

The national, set out, waiting times for various treatment modalities/types set out in MOC and the times that DAATs are performance managed by the NTA on as follows:
Inpatient Treatment: (inpatient detox for example) = 2 weeks
Residential Rehabilitation = 3 weeks
Specialist Prescribing =3 weeks
GP Prescribing = 2 weeks
Day Care Programmes = 3 weeks
Structured Counselling = 2 weeks

If you as an individual feel you are waiting for a long time, or past the above recommended waiting time for any type of treatment, you can contact a drug user specific advocacy service to help you receive the care you need within the recommended waiting time.  The advocates will be directed by you, are all fully trained drug user specific advocates, and can help you to gain access to the type of treatment suited to you avoiding inhumane detox’s within the national recommended waiting time. See contacts below:
 
Contacts in Oxfordshire are:
Oxfordshire advocacy cases – Glenda Daniels – OUT Service Manager on
Tel: 01865 209111
07986816955
glenda.daniels@oxfordshireuserteam.org.uk
Or
Tom Reeve - OUT Project Support Worker on
07725121758
tom.reeve@oxfordshireuserteam.org.uk

If you do not live in any of the areas OUT work in, you can access a National drug user specific advocacy service called the Alliance, they have representatives in many areas of the UK working for them in local areas and senior advocates at head office operating across the UK with many years of experience who can carry out cases by phone or email to get you the type of treatment required by YOU. Contact the Alliance on:

User Involvement should be put in place in all DAAT areas, covering all 3 levels below to ensure that all those who access, work in or strategically plan drug services are fulfilling the need to involve users in the way local treatment systems are planned, funded, implemented and performance managed.