A former nurse has spoken out against the “shocking” way drug addicts are being looked after in Dundee.
Patients at Tayside Drug Problems Service in the city are going for months without treatment, with staffing levels half of what they should be, the source claimed.
The whistleblower said it is “without doubt” that treatment delays are a factor in at least some client deaths.
The nurse, who did not want to be named, said: “The addicts are not properly looked after at all. Services are poor, with inexperienced staff who have little or no experience of dealing with clients.
“It is not staffed properly with the correct mix of clinicians, and they are constantly off sick, with managers leaving.
The experience of returning to Dundee and working for the NHS has been horrific, the source said.
The ex-NHS worker, who worked at the service in Constitution Road in 2015/16, added: “It is shocking because they are not getting treated properly. Everyone working there is too scared to speak out.”
The source said that each clinician at the Tayside Substance Misuse Services, which includes the Constitution Road drug centre, has a caseload of up to 70 clients.
The health worker said that workload is double that seen at comparable services in other parts of the country and leaves users waiting for periods of up to a year between therapies.
The nurse’s intervention comes after Scottish Government figures revealed a steep drop in the number of clients starting their drug treatment within the target time of three weeks, as reported in The Courier.
Official figures published in the summer revealed there were 36 narcotics-related fatalities in the city in 2015 in Dundee, a death rate twice the national average.
David Lynch, the chief officer at Dundee Health and Social Care Partnership, said the concerns have not been raised previously and would encourage staff to report problems with their line manager.
“This will allow staff to be supported and to raise concerns openly,” he added. “Due to a short period of unplanned staff absence, the service saw a slight drop in waiting time performance in comparison with the months prior to July 2016.
“This has now been resolved and waiting times from September onwards have improved.
“We are working closely with staff and service users in the design of new pathways of care, in line with strategic objectives to provide a safe and effective person-centred service.”