Drug programme expands to help Rotherham's young Roma

Rotherham's Drug Intervention Programme has expanded and developed to include a service especially for the Roma community based in the Eastwood area.

Run by Rotherham Doncaster and South Humber NHS Foundation Trust (RDaSH), the DIP substance misuse service provides a lifeline for young Eastern European men from the Roma community who test positive for opiates.

Members of this group are now regular attendees at clinics and are also bringing their friends for treatment.

RDaSH staff at Clearways, Effingham Street, Rotherham, have enlisted an interpreter to help when the Roma clients, who are in their late teens and early twenties, attend the clinics.

The recommendations of a multi-agency safeguarding group have A support worker who speaks Slovakian has also been appointed to accompany the Eastwood community health visitor.

Clearways staff have also enlisted the help of a local solicitor to help people from the Roma community who are having problems with debt and claiming benefits.

A spokesman for RDaSH said staff were working to help the Roma community along with the police, teachers, community workers, health visitors and the council. 

Matt Pollard, service manager for RDaSH’s drug and alcohol services in Rotherham, said: "The staff from all our services try to make it easy for service users to access treatment.

“The DIP team has enabled this particular group of young men to overcome language and cultural barriers so that they can access the services that they need.

"The downsides of substance misuse are fairly obvious and anything that helps less well-integrated groups to address their drug or alcohol issues can only improve their social and health opportunities, both as individuals and as a wider part of the Rotherham community."