Delay in setting up addiction treatment services ‘will cost lives’

Any further delay in setting up an alcohol addiction treatment service in Galway City will result in more deaths, including suicides, of problem drinkers – and cause ‘total devastation’ to local families, addiction experts have warned.

Addiction Counsellors of Ireland (ACI) has demanded that the Health Service Executive (HSE) immediately establishes an alcohol treatment service in the city.

The professional body – which accredits counsellors – claims that GPs in Galway are ‘flooded’ with drink-related patients, and the Emergency Department “can’t cope” with the level of alcohol admissions. It said the long-awaited alcohol addiction treatment service planned for the city would save lives and save tens of thousands of euro on alcohol-related emergency admissions at University Hospital Galway.

Some €470,000 a year funding for the service was announced by the previous Government last December; and a commitment for the service was contained in the Programme for Government agreed by Fianna Fáil, Fine Gael and Green Party.

This week, Galway West TD Hildegarde Naughton, a Minister of State in the new administration, confirmed that some €225,000 for the service from now until Christmas is available in the 2020 HSE budget to get the service up and running.

Local addiction counsellors have now demanded that the HSE urgently hire the staff, and source a building, to roll out the alcohol addiction service, which has been absent for the past seven years.

Chairperson of ACI, Seán Harty, said there was a high price to pay for more delays in setting up an alcohol treatment service.

Mr Harty said “death, families left devastated, breakdown in families, increases in suicide and total devastation” will result if the service is not rolled-out quickly.

“Each and every day that we have this funding and the service is not open we are letting the people of Galway down,” he said.

Another leading accredited addiction counsellor based in Galway, Joe Treacy, who is also a spokesperson for ACI, warned that getting the service established was “a matter of urgency, lives are at risk”.

Joe Treacy, ACI spokesperson.

“We need the HSE to stop pussyfooting around, and pretending that we have a service. Without it, this city has a huge void in relation to the ongoing treatment of alcohol addiction. The impact is enormous without this service. There are families in dire circumstances. There were families in difficulties prior to Covid-19 and now more and more the void is there,” said Mr Treacy.

An addiction treatment centre at Merlin Park was gutted by fire following an arson attack in 2013.

The HSE told a County Galway Joint Policing Committee meeting in May that ‘higher priority’ than reopening the addiction treatment centre at Merlin Park, was ‘a network of community-based addiction services’.

ACI said that the statistics proved the need for the service to be replaced. They said that the Merlin Park centre was dealing with up to 900 referrals a year before it was burnt down; the new treatment centre will cater for around 70 referrals per month.

“A study of the Emergency Department in Galway found that 30% of episodes of alcohol associated with attendees were for repeat attendees. That meant they had one or more episode of care at ED within the year, and some up to 40 times per year,” said Mr Harty.

He pointed out that alcohol associated attendances to Galway ED cost approximately €700,000 per annum, which does not include costs for patients admitted to hospitals.

Ambulance call-outs for alcohol-related incidents in Galway also cost about €1m million every year.

The plan is to line the new treatment service to the ED, which will reduce costs, and provide more effective and efficient services to the people who need it, Mr Harty said.

He added that savings would not be limited to health, but right across society, and would take pressure off the Court Services, Probation Services, An Garda Síochána and more.

“This service is going to pay for itself without a shadow of a doubt. It is extremely good value for money to the Exchequer and will absolutely serve the people of Galway, hopefully with a roll-out to County Galway, Mayo and Roscommon in the coming years,” he said.

However, it was imperative the HSE act as soon as possible, he said.

“The urgency is that GPs are flooded with people presenting with alcohol related issues; ED can’t cope. It can’t cope with the numbers of repeat presentations for alcohol. It’s a huge problem. There are 2,000 beds per night in Ireland taken up with alcohol. Two thirds of suicides, there is alcohol in the system,” added Mr Harty.

Statistics show that there is very little service provided for people with a primary alcohol problem who require outpatient services in Galway – the city has one counsellor per 50,353 people, while Waterford has one per 9,346 people and Tralee has one per 3,948.

Mr Treacy said Galway is playing catch-up since the services were removed in 2013.

“What we need in Galway is a comprehensive alcohol-addiction treatment centre for a city of this size, and without that we have a huge void in services. It’s a basic commodity that we don’t have in Galway at the moment.

The impact is enormous without this service. We have an emerging problem in the city and it’s catching up faster than we can keep up,” added Mr Treacy.

The €470,000 annual funding committed by Government provides for three addiction counsellors, one family support counsellor, one project worker, one liaison nurse and one administrator. The HSE has been urged to hire the staff with the money available, and source a building, which is also budgeted for.

(Main photo: The addiction treatment centre in Merlin Park which was destroyed by fire in 2013).