Minister for Social Justice Dr Brian Gibbons has seen how a number of new Welsh Assembly Government projects are helping substance misuse service users when he attended the Gwent Service User Seminar at Greenmeadow Farm in Cwmbran.
The Minister attended the first All Wales Service User Conference in May, at which a commitment to establish regional service user meetings was made, and this seminar was the first to be held in the Gwent area. The Minister spent time talking to some of the fifty service users and thirty professionals who attended and learning about their experience of substance misuse treatment services.
The seminar also heard about new Welsh Assembly Government schemes such as the Peer Mentoring Scheme which supports service users looking to access training, education and employment and help them with practical problems such as accommodation and the Naloxone Rescue Scheme, which makes Naloxone, a drug that temporarily reverses the effect of a potentially fatal drug overdose, available in areas of Wales where there is a high incidence of drug related deaths and near fatal poisonings.
The Minister said:
“Talking to the service users has been a very useful experience. We have come a long way in developing substance misuse treatment services in the last eight years but we know there is more to be done and will not be resting on our laurels. We want to continue to improve and to ensure that good quality services are available right across Wales. Developing links with the service users themselves in events like these is another important step in ensuring we are delivering the best services in the best way to ensure that we make a real positive difference to people’s lives.”