QAMH contributed to this submission by the Queensland Network of Alcohol and Other Drug Agencies (QNADA) which calls for human rights-led reform of the ODT program, and improved access to voluntary community-based psychosocial support for people. The submission highlights that improving choice and control of treatment options is critical to improve compliance, retention, treatment uptake and people’s ability to work. Stigma and discrimination within treatment services are common for people receiving ODT and must be addressed along with changes to current prescriber models to increase the number of practitioners available to meet demand for ODT services. The submission argues that psychosocial support for people accessing ODT should be offered as a voluntary option within community settings rather than as mandatory requirements in clinical environments.
In this submission, QNADA and QAMH make the following key recommendations to Queensland Health:
- Anti-stigma training should be compulsory across staff working in public ODT programs
- Engage people with lived experience when reviewing opioid treatment guidelines
- Adopt human rights led approach to treatment options, including choice and control of treatment and improved availability of takeaway doses
- Stop the use of Qscript in ODT settings or at a minimum review and re-engineer the use of QScript within ODT
- Increase incentives for prescribing ODT consistent with the Pennington Report
- Design and implement an alcohol and other drug workforce plan
- Ensure people in Queensland Watches Houses and prisons have access to ODT, needle exchange programs and a wide choice of harm reduction services
- Further invest in the NGO sector to deliver additional ODT capacity
- Improve monitoring and evaluation of ODT including investment in an independent complaints process
- Ensure ODT participants are well-informed about available community based psychosocial support options
- Sustainably fund community-managed mental health NGO’s adopting social prescribing to support people accessing ODT
- Improve access to community-managed mental health supports by encouraging referrals from primary care and ODT clinicians and allowing self-referrals.
Read the full submission here