New drug addiction facility to open in Londonderry

Categories

Addiction Treatment
Alcohol
Drugs
Gambling
In the papers
On TV

News Archive

Home » News » Drugs » New drug addiction facility to open in Londonderry

by Change | 25 May 2010

Bookmark

E-mail

Londonderry will be the home of a new drug addiction treatment facility before the end of the year.

A new drug addiction centre will open in Northern Ireland before the start of next year, it has been confirmed.

Londonderry-based Northlands Centre has been granted planning permission for a 26-bed treatment facility, which has been earmarked for empty land near Foyle Hospice, the BBC reports.

The news comes after the Western Health Trust was criticised last week for the lack of drug addiction services in the region, with the nearest treatment centre located on Omagh.

Yvonne McWhirter, the Western Trust's head of addiction services, said that despite a new wave of investment being welcomed, there is an adequate provision of drug addiction services in the region.

Dennis Bradley, a consultant at Northlands, told the news provider that the new facility will contain 16 residential beds and ten detoxification beds.

According to the Northern Ireland 2008 Drug Addicts Index, 83 per cent of people in the province in need of drug addiction support are male.

It was also found that a quarter of registered addicts were aged 29 or under, a slight decline from the 29 per cent recorded the previous year.

Bookmark this: