The Senior Public Health Manager introduced a report of the Director of Care and Health which provided an update on progress in delivery of the Wirral ADDER (Addiction, Diversion, Disruption, Enforcement and Recovery) Accelerator programme. The Committee was reminded that most areas of the country had received funding for one year, Wirral had since received a further year of funding and following the spending review this may be extended further.

Members were taken through a detailed presentation outlining the impact the ADDER funding had made, which detailed the links between deprivation and drug related crime and the enforcement activity that had been ongoing, including information on the advancement of community sentencing which when appropriate diverted people away from custodial sentencing into mental health or drug support. It was reported that there had already been early case studies of people breaking the pattern of repeated criminal behaviour through these interventions.

The Wirral Change Grow Live Services Manager provided a further update to the Committee on the impact the funding had made on the Wirral Ways to Recovery programme, with the growth of the Community Integration Team and the advancement of the proven ‘Through the Gate’ support offer. The specific projects that had benefited from the funding included additional support for women in probationary services with drug misuse problems, as well as the clinical interventions in partnerships with organisations such as Cheshire and Wirral Partnership and Wirral University Hospital Trust to provide additional mental health support and respiratory care caused by drug harm. Further detail was also provided on the Community Pharmacy and outreach programmes.

Members welcomed the update and felt further updates in the future would be beneficial. The Committee discussed the key performance indicators that would be used to measure the success of the project and the enhanced links with primary and secondary healthcare, as well as children’s services.

Resolved – That the contents of the report on the progress made in delivering the Wirral ADDER (Addiction, Diversion, Disruption, Enforcement and Recovery) Accelerator programme be noted.