Heroin Assisted Treatment Intervention: A qualitative exploration
Research type
Research Study
Full title
Heroin Assisted Treatment Intervention: A qualitative exploration
IRAS ID
292909
Contact name
Tammi Walker
Contact email
Sponsor organisation
Teesside University
Duration of Study in the UK
1 years, 0 months, 1 days
Research summary
The North-East has significantly higher rates of deaths relating to drug misuse than all other English and Welsh regions. In Middlesbrough it is a chronic health inequality; people here are more likely to die from drug-related deaths than a car accident. Heroin Assisted Treatment (HAT) is a second line specialised clinical intervention targeting high risk individuals with severe, long-standing and complex opioid dependency (OD), for whom standard opiate substitute treatments (OST) have been ineffective. HAT provides self-administered injectable pharmaceutical-grade heroin, under the supervision of clinical staff, twice daily, seven days a week to individuals.
OD is a chronic long-term condition associated with preventable and costly health and social harms such as soft skin and tissue infections, blood borne diseases, homelessness and drug-related crime. International evidence in support of HAT is substantial, and improves many health and social outcomes compared to standard OST. In October 2019, a twelve-month HAT pilot programme, the first of its kind in the UK, was initiated at the Foundations Medical Practice, Middlesbrough. This project is novel in its design by adopting a whole systems approach, being partly funded by the police and crime commissioner (PCC) in Cleveland.
This qualitative study aims to explore the experiences of professionals, stakeholders and individuals who have completed, discontinued or refused to engage with the HAT pilot programme in Middlesbrough during its first year of implementation. Innovative visual methodologies such as photo elicitation will be used to explore issues relating to treatment outcomes, impact, retention, acceptability and to situate international debates such as the longevity of treatment within the context of HAT in Middlesbrough. Analysing the first whole systems approach HAT within the UK has the potential to contribute significantly to evidence based policy relating to harm reduction and crime prevention in the UK and
beyond.REC name
Yorkshire & The Humber - Bradford Leeds Research Ethics Committee
REC reference
21/YH/0063
Date of REC Opinion
18 Mar 2021
REC opinion
Favourable Opinion