COVID-19 – Guidance for Services

Guidance has been produced on contingency planning for people who use drugs and COVID-19 and has been shared with all Alcohol and Drug Partnerships and all drug services in Scotland.

The Guidance has been produced by Scottish Drug Forum and partners including the Sexual Health and BBV Prevention Leads Group with support from Scottish Government.

The intention of the Guidance is to support local areas and services in their contingency planning for COVID-19 in relation to people who use drugs and particularly the provision of opiate substitution treatment and injecting equipment provision.

It is not meant to replace local contingency planning but to aid further development with regard to meeting specific challenging issues that areas are likely to be face over the coming months.

The guidance was originally published on the 19th of March and was updated and expanded on the 12th of May.

You can view the guidance by clicking here

The situation is changing rapidly and as such it is our intention to update this guidance when necessary. SDF will send out revised guidance to all stakeholders and the latest version will be available on this page.

We intend to highlight changes to practice in particular areas that may be useful to other others when addressing similar issues, to share information with us please contact andyc@sdf.org.uk

 

COVID-19 and people who use drugs 

An information flyer, created by SDF in consultation with colleagues in NHS Scotland and public health, has been designed to inform people who inject drugs how they can reduce their risk of infection and contains advice regarding the acquiral and use of injecting equipment provision during the outbreak.

Click here to download the A5 information flyer on for people who inject drugs and COVID-19

Click here to download a printer-friendly A5 version for printing in-house

SDF have also produced a booklet which highlights good hygiene practices for people who inject drugs in order to prevent the spread of bacteria and viruses.

You can download a digital PDF version of the ‘let’s give bacteria the boot’ booklet by clicking here