Orange Health Service has received funding to offer a special drug and alcohol treatment program to severe addicts.
By TRACEY PRISK
ORANGE Health Service will soon be able to offer drug and alcohol dependent people a lifeline thanks to a new involuntary treatment service.
The state government has allocated $1.8 million to establish the service in Orange and Sydney’s Royal North Shore Hospital.
The treatment programs are designed to treat people who fall into the “too hard basket”, Mental Health and Healthy Lifestyles Minister Kevin Humphries said.
Mr Humphries said the eight-bed facility would help people who were severely substance dependent and at risk of harm, yet unable to consent to treatment.
“Through the statewide implementation of the drug and alcohol treatment act we are reaching out to those who have lost the capacity to make decisions about their substance use and personal welfare, due to the severity of their addiction,” he said.
“This reform will help make it easier to provide treatment to people who have refused it when treatment is absolutely necessary to protect them from harm, and allow them to stabilise and rebuild their physical health.”
Mr Humphries said the funding would ensure people with severe substance-dependence problems had a modern, compassionate and recovery-focused system to help tackle their addiction.
tracey.prisk@ruralpress.com