Vol. 559 No. 5
295 Mr. Crowe asked the Minister for Health and Children the measures the health boards are implementing to draw up a realistic plan to achieve the objective in the national drugs strategy to have immediate access for drug users to assessment and counselling followed by commencement of treatment within a month. [26647/02]
The national drugs strategy 2001-08 was published last year. One of the 100 actions in this strategy is to achieve a situation, over the period of the strategy, where health boards provide immediate access for drug misusers to professional assessment and counselling by health board services, followed by commencement of treatment as deemed appropriate, after not later than one month.
I am informed that the health boards are at various stages of implementing this action and that some boards outside the eastern region have already achieved this target. Performance indicators for health boards relating to this action have been developed and are monitored as part of the service planning process. Details of progress made on this and the other various actions in the strategy will be contained in critical implementation paths. These are being co-ordinated by the Department of Community, Rural and Gaeltacht Affairs and will be available early in the new year.
