Parallel Session B - Implementation issues Practitioner Perspectives – Treatment and Harm Reduction

Practitioners perspectives N Scherbaum: Medical/academic view - guidelines/standards implementtaion daily business for many professions, - financial obstacles common but maybe not main challenge, obstacles to guideline implementation: –Ex.: coverage rural areas, –Opioid substitution treatment in DE: many players- how to follow common guidelines - Need for more effectiveness research (EU funding), - integrate QM in training of all professions, - strengthen qualification in addiction medicine & psychiatry

Practitioners perspective J Farrell: Grassroot- / Low-threshold comprehensive service manager view Strategies for utilising conumers in development of harm reducition service standards and guidelines, Setting user involvement rights and obligations as a standard in addiction care, To overcome barriers to user involvement: establish trust, accountability, committment and incentives, Models of user involvement Ex. of methods, and achieved outcomes in service development and delivery. Standards in harm reduction

Conclusions Time to go beyond beliefs towards minimum evidence- based standards in the EU, Need for high-level EU statement defining a set of agreed standards; Core: Non-conditional standards, to be achieved by all; In addition: differential specific standards for service types, flexible enough to be adapted to different settings Time-frame for implementation at national level should be defined, Cost-effectiveness of implementing (vs. not) of standards to be evaluated, Progress of implementation of evidence-based guidelines standards to be monitored.