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Helping many people

Posted By charazw55

"Helping many people"

About: Inclusion Isle of Wight

(as other),

I have just found out about the needle exchange bus and used it this week, I have been using heroin on and off for many years , I have never come across this before ( I was from West London and it certainly wasn't going there). For the first time I didn't have to feel like I want the ground to swallow me up in the chemist ,or indeed do what I normally do and travel 7 miles to a different chemist . This must be helping so many people who otherwise would be taking risks and not staying safe

. Thank you 

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Responses

Response from Gary Hutchings, Service Manager, Isle of Wight, Inclusion 3 years ago
Gary Hutchings
Service Manager, Isle of Wight,
Inclusion

Submitted on 03/03/2021 at 12:19
Published on Care Opinion at 12:19

picture of Gary Hutchings

charazw55, thanks so much for your feedback.

We have been working really hard as a team to expand our service across the Island to those who sometimes find it hard to attend the hub. During COVID, we also wanted to make sure there was no interruption in getting clean works as pharmacy demand has been high and sometimes there have been long queues. We decided that bringing back mobile needle exchange, with our Inclusion Clinic Bus, was the best way forward after some service user feedback and this has worked well. In fact, it has worked so well that we have expanded the service and we are looking to take this forward when the national restrictions end.

The 'Bus' enables us to get our experienced workers (and volunteers) out and about to make sure people have access to treatment and harm reduction information/equipment. Not only that, but we have used the van for community alcohol detox's and to get our clinical team out to our service users when they need them to provide support 'on the doorstep' where needed. It gives us a level of versatility that we never had before.

At the same time though, if you have any suggestions on how we can improve what we are doing or if you have any new ideas then we will always listen to them. You can give us a ring at the hub, speak to the team on the bus or speak with your Recovery Worker to get these across and to find out the details of our Service User forums.

We will be looking for volunteers to go out on the bus again soon and we are also looking to expand our service in terms of Blood borne virus interventions.

We are really happy that you liked the service and feedback like this tells us that we are on the right track, so keep it coming!!

Thanks.

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Response from Tony Burkitt, Volunteer coordinator, Isle of Wight community hub, Inclusion 3 years ago
Tony Burkitt
Volunteer coordinator, Isle of Wight community hub,
Inclusion

All things volunteering and service user involvement!

Submitted on 03/03/2021 at 12:51
Published on Care Opinion on 04/03/2021 at 13:34

picture of Tony Burkitt

Dear charazw55

Thank you for sharing your experience with our needle exchange van, this is one of the changes we had to implement when covid 19 changed the way we had to do things. It’s been very popular and still continues to go out on a weekly basis offering harm reduction and support to people who need it and can be in isolated cut of areas, If you have anything further to add please contact us on 01983 526 654 to discuss, thanks so much again for taking the time to send us your feedback.

We wish you all the best for the future!

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