Experiences of Methadone Users
What’s the issue?
We received some feedback from service users indicating problems they face on admission to hospital with regards to receiving their methadone. Also, in some instances service users felt they were being treated differently to other patients once they had disclosed their methadone use. This was also true for the experiences of methadone users at pharmacies.
What’s our goal?
To improve the experiences of methadone service users when accessing services in the community (pharmacies etc) and ensure they are treated with dignity and respect.
To ensure that service users receive their methadone in a timely fashion once admitted to hospital and that they are not discriminated against.
How will we achieve this?
We will gather feedback from methadone service users about their experiences of services, and how these can be improved. We will then make recommendations for improvements to the relevant services and carry out follow-on work if necessary.
Where are we up to with this?
30 March 2012: We received some feedback from service users regarding the problems and issues which they faced when receiving their methadone either out in the community or on admission to hospital. As a result of this we will be working with Turning Point ‘Smithfield Project’ during April.
The work will involve producing a short questionnaire which will given to service users during their admission, and will look at issues such as dignity and respect, staff attitude and what the barriers they face when it comes to receiving the methadone. We will also being carrying out workshop sessions to hear service users’ experiences of methadone services as well as health and social care services in general.
We are also looking to work with other organisations who support methadone service users.
How can you become involved?
You can become involved by:
- sharing your experiences of receiving methadone
- telling us how the process could be improved and what would make for a good service
- telling your friends, family who are currently on methadone about the work we are carrying out.