Services Database Pharmacy Needle Exchange

Aims and objectives of the service:

1. To assist the service-users to remain healthy until they are ready and willing to cease injecting and ultimately achieve a drug-free life with appropriate support;
2. To protect health and reduce the rate of blood-borne infections and drug-related deaths among service-users:
   1. By reducing the rate of sharing and other high-risk injecting behaviours;
   2. By providing sterile injecting equipment and other support;
   3. By promoting safer injecting practices;
   4. By providing and reinforcing harm-reduction messages including safe sex advice and advice on overdose prevention (e.g. risks of poly-drug use and alcohol use);
3. To improve the health of local communities by preventing the spread of blood-borne infections by ensuring the safe disposal of used injecting equipment;
4. To help service-users access treatment centres and health and social care professionals where appropriate;
5. To aim to maximise the access and retention of all injectors, especially the highly- socially-excluded; and
6. To help service-users access other health and social care and to act as a gateway to other services (e.g. key working, prescribing, hepatitis B immunisation, hepatitis and HIV screening, primary care services etc).

The pharmacist must:

• participate in 1:1 training provided by Addaction Pharmacy support worker in order to begin to provide the service; or
• attend a local authority organised training event; and
• complete the CPPE Substance Use and Misuse open learning programme.