De-addiction service
- We run a de-addiction service for people with alcohol and drug dependence and it includes both outpatient (de-addiction clinic) and inpatient services.
- Psychiatric Doctors and Psychologists, with experience and skills in alcohol and drug misuse conduct the de-addiction clinics.
De-addiction Clinic
The role of de-addiction clinic involves the following:
- Screening for alcohol and or drug related problems.
- Assessment of the patient with alcohol and or drug misuse.
- Giving drinking advice (for alcohol) and harm minimization advice (for drugs).
- Blood testing and urine screening.
- Planning treatment in alcohol and drug misuse – Detoxification or ‘detox’, involves taking a short course of a medicine. This helps to prevent withdrawal symptoms when you stop drinking alcohol or taking drugs. This may be clinic based, with psychological support, symptomatic medication or reducing substitute medication, or as an inpatient (needing admission) for severe dependence on alcohol and drugs.
- Monitoring to maintain abstinence in the long term, using medications, counseling, and support.
Inpatient detoxification
- In selected patients, spending time in a residential or a hospital facility may offer a period of abstinence (staying dry of alcohol or drugs), which is unachievable ‘outside’, allowing treatments in physical and mental health, and a chance to plan social change to stay off alcohol and drugs. For such patients with severe dependence, we have 5 inpatient hospital beds for ‘Inpatient detoxification’.
- We have input from Doctors round the clock to deal with any complications.
- The inpatient admission and detox medication regime will usually last for 7-10 days or much longer in some cases.
- Our hospital nursing staff are trained in managing complicated alcohol and drug withdrawal syndromes and symptom monitoring.
- We involve the Psychologists to offer psychological interventions, such as motivational interviewing and behavioural couple’s therapy, engaging both the patient and their life partners, supporting them to work with voluntary organizations like Alcoholic Anonymous etc.