Northlands sees 300% increase in demand for services

Northlands Addiction Treatment Centre is currently experiencing “an incredible increase” in the number of people seeking to access its service.

Speaking at Thursday’s meeting of Derry and Strabane District Council’s Health and Community committee, Tommy Canning, Northland’s manager, said the centre had experienced “in the region of a 300% increase over the last 12 to 18 months, in terms of people contacting the centre looking for help, either for themselves of for family members”.

Mr Canning had been invited to make a presentation to the committee following the decision by Stormont’s Department of Health to remove the organisation's core funding in April.

Describing Northlands as a “regional service”, Mr Canning said people from all Trust areas in the North use its service.

He explained: [As a result of the increase] as of today, anybody that phones Northlands is waiting up to eight weeks to be offered an appointment, which upsets us because we are acutely aware when when someone decides or feels that they need help with their own suffering from addiction or that of a family member, to have to tell them on the phone it will be up to eight weeks before they see someone is an indictment of the situation we are in.

“In terms of residential treatment, we have eight beds. We are a commissioned service by the Department to provide eight beds. The greatest portion of those beds are taken up by people from the Western Trust and the Northern Trust, but we also have a substantial number of people coming from the other three Trusts as well, which is important given that the funding we receive really only comes through the Northern Trust and the Western Trust.

“When I left the center today, of those eight beds, seven are being filled, that will be eight by Monday - one person will go out and two people will come in.

“In the last calendar year (2024), 67 people availed of the six-week residential program in Northlands. That is the highest it has been in maybe two decades in terms of the amount of people coming through. If we had had more beds, we could have had more people in.”

Mr Canning added Northlands also offers family support and an education programme.

“In terms of funding, the only portion of [Northlands] funded through the Department of Health is the residential treatment,” said Mr Canning. “So, the up to 700 people annually that we see non-residentially for assessments, Northlands is meeting the cost of that themselves through the block funding of the commission funding.

“The aftercare I spoke about, those groups are facilitated by volunteers and again any cost to that in terms of hire or expenses is covered by Northlands and the same for the information sessions.

“So when when you listen to to um experts talking about the the journey people make through from addiction through to recovery and the importance of education, the importance of residential treatment where required, the importance of preparation for residential treatment, the importance of aftercare, people will talk to us about how important they are, but they are not prepared to put the money in to support those services.”

Cllr Sandra Duffy said there had been widespread shock and surprise at the Department’s decision to remove Northlands’ core funding.

“The council area has always been really grateful and proud of the work Northlands Centre does, particularly the dedication and care from the staff who work there.

“I don't think there are any families right across this Council area who don't know somebody who has come through the Northlands Center and appreciates the work and the support that has gone into wider families, not just the person who is suffering from addiction,” said Cllr Duffy.

People Before Profit councillor Cllr Shaun Harkin said people in the city and beyond held Northlands in high esteem “because of the work that it does”.

“You do save lives. You do save families and you do help communities to stay resilient,” Cllr Harkin said.

“A lot of what you said today has left me more concerned to be quite honest. about the future of Northlands. I think obviously the funding cut, even if it was small, was very disappointing but I think that the the response to it in terms of people's anger and concern demonstrated that a lot of people can see the fragility and the vulnerability of a lot of key services that people depend on here.”

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Cllr Catherine McDaid said reaching out was a moment of clarity “whenever somebody is in that moment of crisis.

“To be told they might be waiting eight weeks will have devastating consequences on many, many occasions and that really worries me.”

Mr Canning said working in addiction and working with Northlands, it was evident to him “addiction services are the Cinderella of the health service”.

He added: “No doubt the government will point to commitments here and commitments there, but it is nowhere near touching the sides of what is going on.

“The reality, if you want to read through some of the Northern Ireland Statistics and Research Agency (NISRA) statistics, is that the problem is getting worse. That is evident in the year-on-year increase within Northern Ireland of people dying from drug-related deaths and people dying from alcohol-related deaths.

“That has increased year on year over the last decade and shows no sign of reducing.

“So, you have that trend on the one hand and then on the other hand you have acute services like residential treatment services losing funding and that in my head makes zero sense whatsoever.”