New measures boost addiction treatment access in Victoria

New efforts to expandtreatment for opioidusers in Victoria are putting addiction specialistsinhospital emergency departments and supporting family doctorswho provideopioidsubstitution therapy for patients.

The initiatives by Island Health and the Victoria Divisions of Family Practice are intended to dovetail with the work of the South IslandRapid Access Addiction Clinic that opened in the city early this year.

The clinic offers streamlined access toopioidreplacement therapies including methadone and Suboxone. It saw 116patients in its first five months of operation.

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Dr. RammHering, Island Health's physician lead for the clinic, said initiating Suboxone treatment is "tricky", but it is easy for a family doctor tocontinue the treatment once a patient has been started on it.

"What the rapid access clinic is doing is connecting with family physicians, supporting them so that addiction can be treated, primarily by family physicians," Heringtold On the Island'sKhalilAhktar.

"Because ultimately it is a chronic disease that is best treated by primary care physicians," Heringsaid.

Dr. Bill Bullock, a board member with the Victoria Divisionof Family Practice, said so far not a lotof family physicians in Victoria are taking on patients who need continuingSuboxoneprescriptions.

While a number of doctors areinterested in helping those patients, Bullock said, "These are skills that family physicians up to now, in general, have not had.

"There isin the maintenance phase, adjustment of doses, knowing when to go up, when to go down, when to taper people off," he said.

'Aren't used to doing this'

"There are other things such as the need to regularly monitor patients with urine and drug testing. Again, family physicians aren't used to doing this."

In response, the Victoria Divisions of Family Practice has taken a role in the education of the physicians and held events.

One session specifically educated physicians about using Suboxone the commercial name forbuprenorphine in their practices.

Another Island Health initiative placedaddictions medicine specialists in hospital emergency rooms to offer specialized care forpatients with injuries or illness related to substance use.

Herring said the plan is to increase addiction care in hospitals and also connect patients to addiction care outside the hospital.

Bullock said it is a misconception that people with addictions don't want to quit using.

"I would say they're very willing,"he said. "There are very few people who are caught up in a drug using lifestyle that are happy with their situation.

"People, after they've been using opiates for a certain length of time, the only reason they continue to use is they get sick if they don't use." he said.

Listen to the interview with Dr. RammHering and Dr. Bill Bullock: "New measures boost addiction treatment access in Victoria"