Some people are waiting close to a year for addiction treatment in Wales' worst hotspot for drug deaths, WalesOnline can reveal. The delays could be "very dangerous" for people in desperate need of support, said one expert.
In three years up to the start of 2022 Swansea saw 119 deaths from drug poisoning – a significantly higher rate than any other area in Wales. Earlier this month we revealed the city's streets had been flooded with cheap, often fake, and potentially lethal prescription sedatives.
Now our freedom of information request has shown that eight out of the 83 people on a Swansea waiting list for alcohol or drug misuse treatment have been in that position for more than 41 weeks. Swansea Bay University Health Board released these figures showing the scale of delays for those who need help from its community drug and alcohol team. As of December 22 last year:
- 11 patients have waited between zero and six weeks;
- 18 patients have waited between six and 12 weeks;
- Six patients have waited between 12 and 18 weeks;
- 11 patients have waited between 18 and 24 weeks;
- 20 patients have waited between 24 and 30 weeks;
- Nine patients have waited between 30 and 36 weeks, and;
- Eight patients have waited between 41 and 47 weeks.
Professor Katy Holloway, a criminology expert at the University of South Wales, said getting people into treatment as quickly and easily as possible was key to reducing drug-related deaths. She said: "Making the decision to seek treatment is a huge one for many people with drug or alcohol problems. Being asked to wait for that treatment, sometimes for many months, means that this critical moment is often lost.
"For some people this can be very dangerous. Indeed research suggests that some people on waiting lists will lose motivation to enter treatment. They may then drop off the list and continue to use substances often putting themselves at risk of harm. Others might remain on the list but seek alternative methods to help them cope while waiting. This might include initiating self-treatment by purchasing non-prescribed medicines illegally on the street."
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The health board said support agencies in Swansea were working together to implement a new prescribing model. One of its aims is to ensure opioid substitutes can be prescribed as quickly as possible.
Recently we spoke to drug users in Swansea who said lives are being lost not only to heroin but to benzodiazepine prescription sedatives – "benzos" such as Valium and Xanax – with packs of 30 tablets available for as little as £5. Even when street Valium pills – sometimes called MSJs – are genuine they can be highly dangerous but often they contain an entirely different drug. Sometimes they stain lips blue with dye – giving the appearance of Valium to a deadly substitute.
The Office for National Statistics released a report in 2022 showing that Swansea had the worst mortality rate for drug poisonings in Wales – 17.4 deaths per 100,000 people. This was well above the next-highest rates of 13.5 for Anglesey and 12.5 for Wrexham.
But a spokesman for Swansea's health board said its new model will "reduce waiting times to access prescribing and release capacity within the community drug and alcohol team". The changes are aimed at helping people with complex physical and mental health needs.
It comes after Keith Reid, executive director of public health in Swansea Bay, voiced his worry last month over the drug death figures. “We are concerned that these rates are high and seem resistant to attempts to lower them," he said.
"The local council, Police and Crime Commissioner, and health board are all concerned that our current efforts to tackle drug use locally are not leading to a reduction in harms. Further work is under way, jointly between these agencies, to identify how services locally can rapidly be improved and integrated to ensure that local people who use drugs can access the support they need when they need it."
Mr Reid said agencies were working to provide stable housing for those with substance issues so they can better access support services. There is also a focus on distributing clean needles and testing for viruses to lower the risk of infection from injecting drugs.
Police have used Naloxone in the area "on at least three occasions where a likely fatal overdose was successfully treated", Mr Reid added. And prescriptions of the long-acting opioid substitute Buvidal are being expanded.
Mr Reid said: “We have supported the launch of a Substance Use Commission, an independent panel of national experts which is locally led, in order to review the situation locally... The commission wants to hear more in order to understand what is driving the use of drugs locally, what the impact might be, and how services might be improved. However we will continue to work in implementing improvements to services locally while the commission undertakes its work.”
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