Sunday, October 27, 2024

Blast from the past - new story published two years ago

 What people sometimes forget is that you can find news stories if you look closely enough. This story from two years ago, sparked from scanning the written answers published by the Northern Ireland Assembly.

Over 1,000 people in Northern Ireland on NHS addiction services waiting list

By Jonathan Traynor

Published 7th Aug 2022, 08:46 BST

More than 1,200 people are waiting for addiction services in Northern Ireland, as concern grows over increasing numbers of drug overdoses and alcohol problems following the pandemic.

The figures were revealed by Health Minister Robin Swann in response to an Assembly Written Question from Órlaithí Flynn MLA.

Leading drug and alcohol charity, ASCERT, said the waiting lists were ‘unacceptable’ and that more people needing support with addiction problems are presenting with multiple and complex issues, including trauma, or homelessness.

The health minister reported that in Belfast Health and Social Care Trust the number of assessments per month has reached 559 over a range of centres and addiction teams.

The wait for addiction support in Northern Ireland is unacceptable says leading charity, ASCERT.

The wait for addiction support in Northern Ireland is unacceptable says leading charity, ASCERT.

ASCERT Chief Executive, Gary McMichael, warned that pressure on statutory and voluntary providers is likely to grow.

“We have seen an increase in the number of people coming to our services and we expect that to continue to be the case,” he said.

We are also finding it much more common for our clients to be experiencing multiple and complex issues in addition to their alcohol or drug use such as mental health problems, trauma, family problems or homelessness.”

While the Northern and Western trusts were not able to provide the number of assessments per month, the South Eastern Trust said they provide 90 new appointments per month and the Southern Trust has 122 new assessment places.

Last September Mr Swann launched a 10-year Substance Use Strategy called Preventing Harm & Empowering Recovery, revealing at the time that the cost to Northern Ireland of drug and alcohol related harm was more than £1bn per year.

The Public Audit Committee published a report, Addiction Services in Northern Ireland, earlier this year which highlighted long-standing problems with addiction services here.

Issues covered in the report include a failure to work across government, the length of time it has taken to produce a new substance use strategy and the high use of prescription drugs.

In addition, the report revealed the lack of reliable data on addiction services, a problem that has not been resolved for years after it was originally identified. The Committee was particularly concerned about how the Department of Health could be assured that its services were effective if the available data was not of a high quality.

The ASCERT Chief Executive warned that the impact was not fully appreciated.

“The impact of the pandemic on levels of addiction and harmful drinking and substance use in the community is seriously underestimated,” said Mr McMichael.”

More people are drinking at dangerous levels since the pandemic. There has been much talk about the impact of the experiences of the last two years on mental health and that is real, but it is also influencing a reliance on alcohol, prescription type drugs or other substances as a means to cope and self-medicate these issues.”

He also said that while charities try to provide as much support and training they can, the gap remains in what is needed from the public sector.

“Many of the people we are supporting would be more appropriate for statutory addiction services or mental health services but they can’t get access,” he explained.

“ASCERT services are often supporting them to stabilise their situation until they hopefully can get into statutory services if they still need to.

“Waiting times for statutory addiction services are often at least two months and sometimes can be much longer. This can be due to the number of people being referred for help or where there isn’t sufficient staffing capacity to cope with demand.

“There are also community based intervention services in each Trust area commissioned by the Public Health Agency designed to support people with lower levels of dependency for their alcohol or drug use and generally there are shorter waiting times for these services.”

He urged people who are concerned about their use of alcohol or other substances to get support and that waiting lists are adding to problems.

“When someone is motivated to seek help it’s really important they get support at that point, when they are willing to engage, otherwise their circumstances can get worse and they end up in crisis or they wait so long they change their mind,” he said “Far too many people drop out of waiting lists and are never seen by services because it has taken so long, and so don’t get the help they need.

“The number of people waiting for help is unacceptable as is the time it takes to get access. There is a need for greater investment in both statutory and voluntary sector drug and alcohol services to ensure that people can get the right support when it’s needed and also that services can reach into the community to engage people at an earlier stage before they end up with serious problems.”

Thursday, October 10, 2024

Ostentatious wealth and poverty

 Ostentatious affluence: wealth and misery cheek by jowl in Belfast


Should you be travelling i along Belfast’s Chichester street you may notice a building with a splendiferous sign declaring that those within are in the business of ‘wealth management’.
Now I have no idea what the hell is wealth management, but it is safe to say that the majority of those reading this post will not have sufficient assets to require such services as financial planning,, income streams, estate management or pension planning.
And, those struggling with addiction and homelessness seen on other streets in Belfast will not require wealth management; their needs are therapy, support, a roof over their heads and to be shown a little kindness from the state and not the many wonderful charities.
Also, spotted on the streets of Belfast were the ostentatious displays of wealth via motor vehicular transport. Sitting on a bus I noticed a Bentley, three porches nd a Ferrari pass by. Later walking to the train station I saw another Ferrari and Lamborghini. And, that’s not to mention the uquitious Mercedes Benz, BMW’s, Range Rovers, Audi’s all manner of SUV’s. A Skoda or Ford or Vauxhall does the same job of transporting you from A to B. And, heaven forfeit those displaying such ostentatious wealth would use public transport.
I do not think that they consciously think ‘I’m all right Hack, so screw everyone else’ but at some level they must consider it.
The homeless, those struggling with addictions, those who barely earn the minimum wage, those who clean, those who serve in retail, those battering through life via food banks and wondering wher the next energy price will be can only dream of a lottery win as an escape from the misery.
Meanwhile they are force fed reality television and aspirational
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Yeah, the Ferrari driver, those using wealth management utter ‘Let them eat cake’ and keep them in their place well away from ‘our type’.
Conscience? It seems that once you achieve a certain level of wealth. Maybe their private health care involves a surgical removal of their conscience

Musings - Tragedies repeated

As the count of the dead and maimed grows in Sudan, Ukraine, Gaza, and the 100+ conflicts, pogroms and dictatorships trade the flesh of their citizens and neighbours they all forget they too will face death, they too have blood that runs red, their time will pass, and for what?


These lyrics from the 80s, when east and west engaged in proxy wars across the world, stlll hold true.

I see convoys curbcrawling west german autobahns
Trying to pick up a war
They're going to even the score
Oh... I can't take any more
I see black flags on factories
Soup ladies poised on the lips of the poor
I see children with vacant stares, destined for rape in the alleyways
Does anybody care, I can't take any more!
Should we say goodbye?

I see priests, politicians?
The heroes in black plastic body-bags under nations' flags
I see children pleading with outstretched hands, drenched in napalm, this is no vietnam

I can't take any more, should we say goodbye
How can we justify?
They call us civilised!

Blind Curve - Marillion

Monday, April 09, 2012

double spaces and Smashwords

WORKING through another story, musing on the problems of the world I came across a useful wee hint...one that can shave some time over your approval on Smashwords Premium List by a simple check: search your document for double spaces...

Smashwords 'epub' checker reads double spaces as if you have put a false indent into paragraph beginnings, something that can cause problems with certain e-readers.

Simply search through your document (ctrl+f) for double spaces and replace them with single spaces.

I'm currently about to do that with my story Justice Follows the Grave but even if you haven't got this done the story can still be viewed (and bought!) on Smashwords!

I found this out through a problem with my story Defender, which is now awaiting review for submission to the Premium List.

If any of you are novices to ebook publishing, please feel free to drop me a note if you want some basic hints, but Smashwords has lots of free advice, though it takes a small amount of time.

Now if anyone can help on using Photoshop Elements for cover design, or some advice on affliate process with Smashwords....



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Monday, March 12, 2012

Seven short stories published as ebooks

GETTING through a backlog of writing I've managed now to have six short stories and one (slightly) longer story published on Smashwords. Horror stories, supernatural stories, science fiction, a Belfast romance and a sword and sorcery story...no way I want to get "typecast"

Saturday, January 07, 2012

Where you can find missing stories

I've recently received a few emails about taking stories down from this site. If you've already read them, thanks!

In the meantime I've taken the plunge and published them as an independent ebook publisher.

Stories like In Media Res and Beginnings and three others are now available at Smashwords where you can read them on your Kindle, PC, iPad, iPhone, Sony Reader and even the humble old PC. You can view the first 20% of each story free, and if you like them read the remainder for the reduced price of $0.99!

Friday, December 30, 2011

Just published my second short story on Smashwords

Writing update time. I just published my second short story on Smashwords.com. It's called Justice Follows the Grave and you can read it here on most e-reader platforms like Kindle and e-readers for iPad and iPhone

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Thursday, December 29, 2011

Short story now available to buy...cheap too

JUST took my first venture into proper ebooks with the publication of my short story Watching the Watched on the wonderful Smashwords website: there you can buy a copy at a very reasonable price for your own delection and delight to read on Kindle, iPad or whatever takes your fancy.

You can read a sample here, and buy from the same page! Hope you like it!

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