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Looking after our community and providing excellent care

Drugs and Alcohol

The Orkney Alcohol and Drugs Partnership (ADP) is a multi agency organisation incorporating over 30 members, including NHS Orkney, Orkney Islands Council, Police Scotland and the Voluntary Sector. The partnership is overseen by a support team who ensure that all members are able to contribute towards various aspects of substance misuse in Orkney. Within the support team, we don’t carry out clinical or therapeutic support to patients, we offer support to the services that do.

“Our vision is to help create a supportive, positive environment in Orkney which reduces the harms of problematic substance use”

Orkney ADP is committed to promoting positive change by working to improve the lives of those suffering from problematic substance misuse. Through effective partnership working we will focus on providing early interventions for individuals, their families, and communities. We will provide increased support for children and young people affected by problematic substance use within our community. We will champion the human rights of those who use substances within our community. We will work together in acknowledging and addressing the underlying causes of problematic substance misuse such as poverty, trauma and adverse childhood experiences. We will campaign to challenge and reduce stigma faced by problematic substance users and their families so that they can move forwards in their recovery to lead safe, healthy and meaningful lives as members of our community.

The purpose of Orkney ADP is to achieve the priorities set both locally and nationally to improve the outcomes for individuals, families and the wider community of Orkney in relation to the reduction of alcohol and drug related harm. This includes the provision and commissioning of treatment and support services.

Orkney ADP bases its strategic priorities on those set by the Scottish Government in their national strategy, Rights, Respect and Recovery. Following two local consultation events with stakeholder partners, frontline services and those with lived and living experience, it was agreed to use the strategic priorities and translate these into outcomes within the local context as follows:

Orkney ADP Strategic Priorities

If you would like to see a range of support options available in Orkney, this may be for yourself, a friend, a family member then please have a look at our Orkney Services Directory for 2024 on the link below:

Orkney Services Directory 

Recognising signs of an overdose

Can you recognise the signs of an overdose? Do you know how to respond to an overdose? The use of Naloxone temporarily reverses an opioid overdose and can be life-saving. Naloxone buys a person time until an ambulance arrives, or they can be seen by a medical professional. Do you carry Naloxone? If not, please take some time to complete the Scottish Drugs Forum E-Learning course on Overdose Prevention, Intervention and Naloxone and once completed, you will be able to order a Naloxone kit. Alternatively, this can be accessed through the NHS Orkney Alcohol and Drug team.

Please find the training course through this link - Overdose Prevention, Intervention and Naloxone e-learning - Scottish Drugs Forum (sdftraining.org.uk)

For more information on Naloxone please visit - Stop The Deaths

Injection equipment provision (IEP) is also accessible through the NHS Orkney Alcohol and Drug team or you can drop into the needle exchange service at Nordhaven clinic at the Balfour Hospital. They also offer a sexual health clinic, STI testing, contraception, BBV (Blood, Borne virus) testing & support around sexual assault. More information can be found at - Needle Exchange Programme | NHS Orkney (scot.nhs.uk)

If you would like to look further into our local strategy for Orkney (2021-2026) please follow the link below:

Orkney ADP Strategy 2021-26

Contact Us 

If you have any questions or would like to find out more about alcohol and drugs in Orkney, please feel free to contact Cameron (ADP Development Officer) Or Katie Spence (ADP Co-ordinator) on the email addresses below:

Getting in touch

We shall be delighted to hear from you, so here are the various ways of contacting us:

The Balfour

By telephone to:
01856 888100
(during office hours)

01856 888000
(out of hours)

By e-mail to:
ORK.feedback@nhs.scot

By letter to the address below:

Foreland Road
Kirkwall
Orkney
KW15 1NZ