Lifeline Kirklees has never had such an exciting or demanding year in its history as the one that has just ended.

The launch of the Way Ahead Service and restructured Adult Community Treatment Team marked the start of an improved way of working with people affected by substance use. It’s a way of working that sees the substance user as a whole person and puts them and their families at the heart of everything we do, seeking to see things from the users’ perspective.

Major advances have been made this year in truly involving users and their families both in their own treatment and in the planning and delivery of services, the recruitment and training of staff and in joining our workforce. We are indebted to members of Kirklees User Forum who have been an invaluable source of support and help in this process. Our Outlook service has also played a major role by leading on the volunteer and peer education programmes, providing a vital pool of people from whom to recruit, crucial at a time of growth and skills shortage in the drug treatment workforce.

Changes in the Criminal Justice system have been a major focus of the latter part of the year, as services have been re-structured again in order to deliver new initiatives, including rapid access to treatment.

In the next year we look forward to our integrated Children, Young People and Family Service, incorporating Drug Sense and Family Drugs Service taking a lead on embedding the learning from Hidden Harm and Every Child Matters into the culture of all our services. We hope that the learning from the evaluation of Making Things Equal will provide us with strategic direction for providing a more inclusive service that meets the needs of all communities.

The disappointingly slow start to the blood borne virus service means that this is a priority for improvement next year. We have also experienced some other barriers, which present a risk to consolidating current achievements and further development. Our buildings are overcrowded and inadequate. This is being addressed in North Kirklees with a move to a newly renovated building, which will house most of our services, following this we will turn our attention to the accommodation of South Kirklees services.Our most important asset is our workforce. Everyone plays their part in creating a seamless, user focused treatment system. They are dedicated, highly motivated and resilient and we are proud of them.

Bridget Hughes