Brief Insight 15: Perth & Kinross Alcohol & Drug Partnership: Integrated Drugs & Alcohol Team (IDART)

Background

The Integrated Drug and Alcohol Recovery Team (IDART) offers a drop in clinic in Perth City. It supports people to consider and choose the most suitable recovery option for them. The service runs one day a week with the team offering same day assessments and prescribing where appropriate. If someone is not ready to engage they are given the choice to return and offered a follow-up appointment. People are also offered information and advice of other local services and support.

Impact

Since the service opened, attendance has increased and recently reached full capacity. The team has also noted an improvement in the standard of referrals demonstrating that both people and professionals understand how to access the service and what it offers.

Work is underway to capture service feedback by:

• Registering on Care Opinion,
• Collecting experience surveys via their Business Improvement Team, and
• Conducting experiential interviews using an electronic booking system and offering a cash voucher for participation.

Learning

The team have viewed this project as an opportunity to review and challenge their old ways of working. They quickly learned the value of targeted service promotion through social media, the production of podcasts and engagement with key partner agencies. There are still challenges around delivery of this model within geographically large and rural communities which require further planning and support both locally and nationally.

Top Tips

• Proactive collaboration with partner agencies and sectors.
• Forge trust early with people using the service.
• Target promotion of services with people and partnering services.
• Ensure adequate administrative support from the start.

Next Steps

The team aim to raise the profile of their same day prescribing service through a promotional campaign in May 2023.