The Consultancy Liaison Addiction Service - the first 5 years of an integrated, primary care-based community drug and alcohol team

Government policy, running through the 10-Year Drug Strategy, Tackling Drug s to Build a Better Britain (The Stationery Office, 1998) and the New Drug Misuse Clinical Guidelines (Department of Health, The Scottish Office, 1999 ) highlights the need for health authorities and now PCGs to invest in shar ed care mechanisms to support primary care in its task of caring for drug m isusers. Primary Care Trusts, as freestanding NHS organizations, will in ti me be able to commission, purchase and provide these services themselves, u sing primary care expertise alongside specialists. This paper describes a m odel of primary care-based shared care service, the Consultancy Liaison Add iction Service, that has been in operation for 5 years in South London, tha t predates these changes in the NHS yet could be considered by PCGs or PCTs when planning services for drug misusers. The service comprises a team of drug and alcohol community psychiatric nurses, supported and managed by a p rincipal in general practice. Together they have worked with 72 neighbourin g general practices, supporting the treatment of alcohol-misusing and drug- misusing patients. The team has a separate identity from, but is closely in tegrated into the secondary specialist addiction service producing effectiv e continuum of care.