1,000 EXTRA HEROIN ADDICTS USE METHADONE TREATMENT METHOD

ALMOST 1,000 extra heroin addicts were treated by the Eastern Health Board
in the past year in response to an escalating demand for help from drug
abusers, it emerged, yesterday.

This massive increase in the numbers seeking help under the board's
methadone treatment programme has brought the total number of addicts helped
within the past year to over 3,000.

Five addiction centres and 15 satellite treatment clinics were also opened
by the Eastern Health Board, and the number of beds in one existing
detoxification unit increased to 17 as part of a major expansion of the
board's overall services.

Plans are well advanced for another 20-bed detoxification unit and a 12-bed
stabilisation unit, according to the Eastern Health Board 1997 annual
report, which was published yesterday.

The increase in demand for places on the Eastern Health Board's methadone
treatment programme is due partly to their extended efforts to help addicts
live a drug-free life, according to Eastern Health Board spokesman Paul O'Hare.

"We have stepped up our efforts to get as many heroin addicts as possible
onto our methadone programme, and our two mobile clinics in Dublin's inner
city have been very effective in reaching many addicts who normally would
not have gone to their GP for help," Mr O'Hare said.

Methadone is used as a replacement for heroin to stabilise the addicts and
curb their desires to buy the drug from dealers on the street.

When they have been on this programme for a certain time they are in a
better position to decide whether or not they want to progress to a full
detoxification programme.

The other major services expanded by the Eastern Health Board during the
past year included:

Six new community nursing units for older persons and a subvention for 2,586
persons receiving care in private nursing homes;

Sixty-four new residential places for people with learning disabilities, as
well as 50 emergency/respite beds and 155 new day places. And three new
community homes and a new 30-bed residential complex was opened at St Ita's
Hospital in Portrane;

Three additional residential child care centres and a special unit for
children with emotional and behavioural difficulties that dealt with over
2,00 cases of suspected child abuse.

EHB chairperson RF3isEDn Shortall said the scale of the child care
challenge can be appreciated when you consider there are 365,132 children
living within the board's region.

Almost 1,400 are in direct care and just over 1,000 of these are in foster
care, while the remainder are looked after in small family-style units.

During 1997, there were 3,480 child referrals to the board's 24-hour Crisis
Intervention Service, the only one of its kind in the country.

EHB chief executive PJ Fitzpatrick said the board will be building two more
acute general hospitals costing a total of IEP80 million at Blanchestown in
Dublin and Naas, and these are currently at the planning stage.

Checked-by: Melodi Cornett