National Drug and Alcohol Awards

Celebrating Australian achievements to prevent
and reduce alcohol and other drug use and harm

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Major Sponsors

Supporter

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Glenelg and Southern Grampians Drug Treatment Service nominated as Finalist in 2008 National Drug Awards for Excellence in Treatment

The National Drug and Alcohol Award Committee is pleased to announce that the Glenelg & Southern Grampians Drug Treatment Service (GSG DTS) has been nominated as a finalist for the Excellence in Treatment award.

GSG DTS developed an innovative partnership with the local primary care staff at the local hospital in Portland. This partnership was instigated by GSG DTS to obtain better outcomes for rural patients in Portland who had alcohol or other drug (AOD) problems.

The GSG DTS project trained their local AOD workers, obtaining qualifications in workplace training and assessment. This enabled the AOD staff to provide training to nurses at the local Portland hospital.

Uniquely this project did not use a broad-based screening tool. By increasing nurse and doctor awareness and training, rather than implementing another layer of paperwork, GSG DTS developed an approach that accounted for the time pressures encountered in rural hospitals.

As a result of tailoring their project to their local situation, GSG DTS achieved a 10-fold increase in referrals in the first year and a doubling in the second year. Completion of substance abuse forms more than doubled. Additionally, AOD reference charts and pathway tools were developed, improving service delivery. After seed funding from the Alcohol Education and Rehabilitation Foundation expired, GSG DTS incorporated it as one of their on-going projects.

The winner of the Excellence in Treatment award will be announced at a gala dinner at The Plaza Ballroom in Melbourne on 27 June 2008.

The National Drug and Alcohol Awards are a collaborative effort of the Ted Noffs Foundation, The Australian Drug Foundation, The Alcohol and Other Drugs Council of Australia and the Australian National Council on Drugs.

It is estimated around 10,000 Australians now work directly in drug and alcohol treatment across Australia with a further 8,500 in associated sectors.

Sponsors of the awards are the Alcohol Education and Rehabilitation Foundation (Principal sponsor), the Australian Government Department of Health and Ageing (major sponsor); VIC Department of Human Services (major sponsor), The Department of Education, Employment and Workplace Relations (major sponsor), VIC Department of Education and Early Childhood Development (sponsor) and NSW Health — ActNow (supporter).

To interview the finalist please contact Sam Hunt on 02 6122 8600. For more information about the National Drug & Alcohol Awards go to http://www.drugawards.org.au/