NICAS Holds 30th Anniversary Conference

On 1 October 2008, NICAS held a conference to mark its 30 years working in the field of alcohol and drug misuse. The Conference was addressed by the Minister for Health, Social Services and Public Safety, Michael McGimpsey, Chief Medical Officer for Northern Ireland, Dr. Michael McBride and Chairman of the Belfast Health and Social Care Trust, Pat McCartan.

NICAS Director, Dr Claire Armstrong said “Last year we had a 22% increase in demand for our treatment services but with no increase in funding to support this.”

“Over the years, alcohol has been the most frequent reason for people seeking help from NICAS, with three quarters of clients finding their drinking has become a problem. This trend is continuing. We are also seeing more people with physical damage caused by heavy drinking at a younger age than we would have in the past.”

NICAS believes that a lack of funding for addiction services such as theirs is a false economy. Dr. Armstrong said “Research has found that community-based alcohol treatment programmes like those provided in NICAS save more money than they cost to run. For every £1 spent on treatment, £5 was saved from the bill for dealing with the consequences of drinking. The study concluded that the average cost of treating one person was £175 – but that treatment saved nearly £900 in reduced health and social care, including the impact on police and the criminal justice system.”

“Alcohol addiction remains a high-profile issue, but we don’t want to see treatment services becoming the ‘poor relation’. NICAS is working at the sharp end of alcohol dependency – the work requires highly dedicated and trained staff, but the rewards in terms of improved health and well-being for people and their communities are great. Further investment is required to ensure that people in have access to the kind of treatment services they need.”