November Newsletter

Care Commission Inspection

Castle Craig "A Great Phenomenon of which Scotland should be proud"

Castle Craig enjoyed a highly successful recent inspection by the Scottish Commission for the Regulation of Care. A formal written report will be forthcoming in the next few weeks. However, we have been advised that we are going to be awarded grade 6 “excellent” and grade 5 “very good” for all our quality statements. In an exchange of final statements on the last day of the inspection, one inspector, a psychiatric professor in addictions, stated that Castle Craig was “a great phenomenon of which Scotland should be proud”.

New Head Nurse

The appointment of Roy Young, RGN BSc, Cert HePro, ROCA

Castle Craig is delighted to announce the appointment of a new Head Nurse. Roy Young is joining us from his previous position as an inspector with the Scottish Commission for the Regulation of Care. Roy says, “I have known and come across Castle Craig throughout my career as a specialist addictions nurse latterly in Fife and then in my previous job as a care commission inspector and I am delighted to be working here now.”

New staff appointments

New therapy and admissions staff

Castle Craig has welcomed three new therapists, Lorraine Whittimore, Chris Cain and Rudy Garrow. Rudy has returned to Scotland from New Zealand and Chris has previously worked in England and trained at Clouds House. In other staff appointments, Lauren Auld has joined Jillian at the admissions desk and there is also a new trainee therapist Mark Lafferty.

Dr. Glynis Read

Appointment to board of SEDIG

Castle Craig is pleased to announce that our Head of Training, Dr. Glynis Read – has been co-opted onto the board of SEDIG – the Scottish Eating Disorders Interest Group (SEDIG). Castle Craig continues to treat patients with eating disorders as part of its provision for the treatment of Dual Diagnosis patients.

Steve Gordon Photography

Glasgow photographer - new pictures for Castle Craig

Glasgow photographer Steven Gordon came to Castle Craig earlier this year and spent 3 days bringing our collection of images up to date. Having worked on photography projects in the past with drug addicts in Glasgow, as well as in various war zones as a photo journalist Steven has a wide range of experiences which he brings into his work. Over time you will see his images replace the current ones on our website and in our information material.

Website updates

'Make-over' for Castle Craig website

The Castle Craig website has been re-structured and the homepage has been re-designed. In particular a new section to the site has been created called “Experience Castle Craig” – which offers a range of different ways for visitors to the site to get a feel for Castle Craig, its mission and its personality. Work on our website, and our on-line presence is ongoing with various projects either being action or in the pipeline. We have recently added new pages about our family therapy and hyperbaric oxygen therapy.

BBC and Press coverage

Castle Craig in the media

The Chairman of Castle Craig, Peter McCann, has been in the press again over the last few months, with published commentary on the constant battle we face to get patients into treatment. In a statement broadcast and published by the BBC, Peter McCann was quoted as saying, “NHS referrals are at a pitiful level and every obstacle is put in a patient's way from receiving in-patient or residential treatment. We hear time and again reports that nurses or drug workers tell their patients that they cannot have this kind of treatment and GPs are given the same message. So they give up."

Peter McCann also lent his weight to the calls for a rethink of Scotland’s addiction to methadone maintenance – which was highlighted on the 18th August following another year of high drug deaths. These figures followed soon after the announcement of a rethink of policy in England in favour of abstinence based, inpatient treatment. Peter McCann was quoted in the Scotsman the Times and other papers as saying, “"Today's drug-death figures would have been described as totally catastrophic just a few years ago. There must now be a total rethink in Scotland along the lines of the National Treatment Agency in England which totally reversed its policy earlier this month.

New Abstinence leaflet

Castle Craig publishes new abstinence leaflet

At the suggestion of several of our partners – and in response to a growing resurgence of demand for abstinence based treatment – Castle Craig has published a new leaflet which delivers clear and critical messages about what “abstinence” means in relation to the treatment of addictions. We have telephoned around all the addiction services in Scotland and offered free copies of this leaflet which will shortly be distributed. If you would like to order your own copies please contact us, or download from the website here.

Visit of MSP to Castle Craig

Jeremy Purvis MSP for the Lib Dems visits Castle Craig

On 26th October, the Liberal Democrat MSP Jeremy Purvis visited Castle Craig and met with Peter McCann and Dr. Margaret Ann McCann. Together they discussed government policy for the treatment of addictions – in particular the shockingly low number of people who are given the opportunity to pursue abstinence based recovery despite wishing to. Also discussed was the perilous state of patients’ health before they are finally considered for residential detoxification and rehabilitation. Different standards operating north and south of the border were also discussed, with the potential for a widening gap between provisions and quality of services in England and Scotland. Several subjects were identified for follow-up in the Scottish parliament and at Castle Craig.

Castle Craig meets Afghanistan

In-service training about drugs in Afghanistan by two Afghan based researchers

On the 5th of October, Alex Strick van Linschoten and Felix Kuehn, came to Castle Craig to lead an in-service training lecture and discussion about drug addiction and drug trafficking in Afghanistan. The focus of the talk was Afghanistan’s role in international heroin cultivation and the recent history of this from 1997 up until the present day, with a look at likely future trends – including the growing shift from heroin to cannabis for farmers. Alex and Felix have both been working as journalists and researches in the southern Afghan city of Kandahar for the past 3 years. They published their first major work earlier this year : My Life With the Taliban which is an autobiographical work about a former Taliban leader which they edited and adapted and translated. For the staff at Castle Craig this was a unique experience to hear about the situation at the other end of the battle against drugs – which is a story that takes as many twists and turns on the other side of the world as it does here.

Staff Marriages

4 marriages among staff members

Congratulations to four staff members who have had weddings recently. Jillian Paterson, Joanne Whyte, Ellen Rough and Victoria McCann; who are now, respectively, Jillian Johnstone, Joanne Sutherland, Ellen McLaughlan, Victoria Jimenez.