< BACK

Provision of foil in Sheffield via needle exchange services
Anne Boid, Needle Exchange Worker, Turning Point Adult Treatment Services, Sheffield

Abstract
Turning Point Sheffield had previously considered issuing foil via the needle exchange services for a while after we had service users asking if we supplied it. It was only after hearing about the success of Turning Point Somerset that our service manager gave the go ahead for a 6 month trial in 2007 to research if there was a need for it in Sheffield and to secure.

After consulting with Turning Point Somerset, we contacted South Yorkshire Police and with their full support, we began to distribute foil via the site based needle exchange, the mobile needle exchange (Sharp Action) and the needle exchange service offered to the working women of Sheffield
(SWWOP - Sheffield Working Women's Opportunities Project). This presentation will look at the meaning of harm reduction; the current law surrounding the supply of foil in drug treatment settings; the 6 month trial (including costing's and case studies) and an update on our current progress in foil distribution, including feedback from service users.

TOP

Biography
Anne Boid works within the Tier 2 Open Access service at Turning Point Sheffield and specialises in harm reduction and safer injecting. Anne delivers safer injecting and harm reduction training internally to staff and volunteers. Anne also delivers overdose training externally across the city for service users, their carer's and external organisations alongside Sheffield DAAT and South Yorkshire Ambulance Service. Anne has also been involved in the NNEF consultation paper that has recently been submitted to ACMD and Parliament for review of Section 9a of the Misuse of Drugs Act. Anne has been in post for 5 years and is a qualified Needle Exchange Worker and has experience in delivering CBT and person centred counselling to individuals with substance misuse and alcohol issues.