The provision of a Medically managed Substance Misuse Residential Detoxification service

The purpose of the residential medically managed detoxification service is to provide a safe, evidence based, effective detoxification and stabilisation programme to aid the recovery and reintegration of substance misusers with complex needs.
Within Sefton Integrated Substance Misuse Treatment Service, the first-line detoxification offer is community detoxification within the adult treatment service. Where increased risk is indicated, residential in-patient detoxification may be the safest and most effective treatment plan. Medical input and supervision can be provided by a community GP overseeing the detoxification plan.
However, medically managed inpatient detoxification is an important treatment option for service users who:
• Have not benefited from previous formal community-based and/or medically supervised inpatient detoxification
• Need 24 hour specialist substance misuse medical and/or nursing care because of significant co-morbid physical or mental health problems
• Require complex polydrug detoxification, for example concurrent detoxification from alcohol or benzodiazepines
• Are experiencing significant vulnerabilities or social problems that will limit the benefit of community-based detoxification
• Have complex needs that require admission for medical stabilisation.
The particular aims of the service are
• To provide a safe period of medically managed and monitored (by exception) withdrawal and detoxification, with 24 hour medical supervision
• To encourage, educate, motivate and enable realistic lifestyle changes
• To ensure that treatment gains are maintained by developing robust links with aftercare support available within the community, including mental health services
• To address the safeguarding and welfare needs of vulnerable adult service users or the children of substance misusing parents, ensuring that needs are identified and planned for prior to a person’s discharge from inpatient care
• To ensure that the principles of harm minimisation underpin the delivery of all interventions in order to reduce the harm caused by drugs and alcohol on individuals, thereby contributing to a reduction in drug and alcohol related deaths and the transmission of blood borne viruses.