25 April 2022

Prof Dame Carol Black, former President of the Royal College of Physicians, was commissioned by the Home Office and the Department of Health and Social Care to undertake a review of drug use and the  treatment system, to inform the government’s drug strategy ‘From Harm to Hope‘, which was released last December.

Dr Fehler with Dame Carol Black

Dr Jeffrey Fehler, Clinical Director of CNWL Addictions directorate and Hillingdon consultant, reflected on how delighted the team was to host Dame Carol. ‘Dame Carol reached out to us and wanted to hear more about the work we do, especially in addressing complex mental and physical health comorbidity. We spoke about addiction frequently being a chronic, relapsing condition exacerbated by psychological trauma and interfacing with every sphere of Medicine. It was in fact our collaboration with chronic pain services that prompted Dame Carol to get in touch. I was struck by the palpable excitement in the service that Dame Carol chose to visit us in Hillingdon. The way many clinicians thanked her for highlighting and attempting to remediate the challenges that we face was both powerful and quite touching.’

Dame Carol’s landmark report (part 2 was released in July 2021) contained 32 recommendations to improve the effectiveness of drug treatment and to help more people recover from dependence. Dame Carol emphasised not just the need for increased funding to deliver high-quality treatment and recovery services, but also the importance of having professionally qualified staff within these services and for better coordination of care with wider health, employment support, housing and criminal justice partners.

For further information regarding the report, see Review of drugs part two: prevention, treatment, and recovery - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)