27 October 2010
Sumit meeting to launch new substances strategy
A two-year project to develop effective systems of monitoring people with substance misuse problems is being launched at the University of Dundee tomorrow (Thursday October 28th).
The SUMIT (Substance Misuse Information - Tayside) project is a £300,000 scheme funded through NHS Tayside and the Alcohol and Drug Partnerships in Dundee, Angus and Perth & Kinross.
SUMIT aims to develop a collaborative approach that will lead to much better management of patient information across the alcohol and drug care, treatment and recovery agenda.
Project leader Dr Brian Kidd, Clinical Senior Lecturer in Addiction Psychiatry at the University of Dundee, said that information relating to patients with substance misuse problems was frequently disjointed and not helping deliver an effective service.
'Good quality information on substance misuse has previously been very hard to get your hands on,' said Dr Kidd. 'We are dealing with a large and complex population who often have problems across a number of areas including their health, social circumstances, childcare, criminal justice, unemployment.
'All of that activity throws up a wide array of information and what we will be doing with this project is finding the best way to join all of that up in a sensible way. The end result for patients and authorities is that it will allow us to plan care more effectively, based on need, ensure a higher-quality service, direct resources in a more cost-effective manner and get better outcomes for everyone.'
Dr Kidd said there were approximately 4000 people in Tayside requiring treatment for drug misuse problems, and many more with alcohol abuse problems.
'This is a large problem not just in Tayside but across Scotland and there are ambitious and expansive national strategies now in place to try and tackle it,' said Dr Kidd. 'For that to succeed we need to develop much better information management at the local level.
'The key question we often face is, `Are the people in this population with substance misuse problems getting better?’ It is hard to give a very solid answer to that because we do not have the kind of information available to us that covers all of the aspects that are important. This project will give us the tools to answer that question.
'There is also a significant research aspect to this project that will look at health economics, data linkage and addiction research, areas in which there is extensive expertise across the University.'
The SUMIT project is being launched with a stakeholder meeting at the Tayside Centre for General Practice, Mackenzie Building, Ninewells Hospital, on Thursday October 28th.
For media enquiries contact:
Roddy Isles
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University of Dundee
Nethergate, Dundee, DD1 4HN
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E-MAIL: r.isles@dundee.ac.uk
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