Lancaster University’s Health Partnerships Team brought together a team of addiction specialists to respond to a national call for innovative projects to improve services for some of the most vulnerable people in society.

A Collaboration Cafe Plus event in Health Innovation One saw Lancaster researchers meet with addiction support charities and public sector health leaders to co-create projects which could bid for funding under the Accelerated Knowledge Transfer (AKT) scheme.

Some of the themes which came out of the discussion were around poor access to health care for drug users, questions over which data should be collected to make evidence-based decisions about provision of care, health literacy, family impact and stigma.

And a number of the projects which were discussed at the event are now being shortlisted for potential funding bids.

Dr Euan Lawson, GP and Senior Clinical Lecturer in General Practice at Lancaster Medical School, told the attendees: “I remember during austerity when services were moved out of the NHS and made the responsibility of the third sector, almost overnight.

“I love charities; they do amazing work and have really helped bring through the voices of people with lived experience to inform the support on offer. But without doctors and NHS healthcare workers being involved, there are significant gaps in what can be offered.

“I used to take my prescription pad to a drug treatment service in Lancaster and could write a prescription or take blood tests there and then, when I recognised there was an issue. Substance misuse services are no longer commissioned to do that.

“Drug users will not get up at 8am and wait in a telephone queue for an appointment, arrive at the surgery and sit in the waiting room before going in to explain their issue to their GP. There’s a lot of stigma around them. Their problems are just allowed to go on and on.

“I see these challenges every day, in my work with drug services in Blackpool.”

Professor Mark Limmer, Professor of Adolescent Public Health and Head of the Division of Health Research at Lancaster University, added that working directly with drug users during the AIDS pandemic was the first time he had seen service providers begin to operate with a deeper understanding of the issues involved.

He said: “It is so important those voices are heard in what we are doing and that we really understand the value of co-production.

“We must be aware of the dangers of the term addiction, which takes away people’s agency and focusses too heavily on the individual rather than the societal problems which really impact drug users.”

Some of the partner organisations represented in the discussions included The Well Communities, lived experience recovery organisation Warrior Down and Westmorland and Furness Council. The University’s Knowledge Transfer Team were also on hand to provide support and guidance.

Laura Kornas, Head of Partnerships and Engagement for Health and Social Care at Lancaster University, said: “Our role is to develop partnerships by bringing people and organisations together to tackle the major health challenges in our region and beyond.

“It was fantastic to see so many of our colleagues and partners come together.

“We’re already seeing a number of experts coalescing around certain projects which will bring academic rigour for evidence-based decision-making around our approach to improving health outcomes for drug users.”

The AKT programme provides funding for short-term collaborations between universities and partners to accelerate the progress of innovation projects.

The current call is looking for "innovative idea(s) to improve treatment, recovery, and harm prevention for those with drug and/or alcohol addiction(s)".