ESCC - NS - Project Adder Care Navigation Service - AWARD

The Care Navigation Service is being commissioned by East Sussex County Council using funding from Project Adder. The scope of the project is to provide a range of interventions that address and reduce the harm caused by the supply and use of heroin and crack cocaine in Hastings, East Sussex. The government's Shared Outcomes Fund is designed to test innovative approaches to address cross-cutting issues affecting society. This includes funding totalling £28 million to help join up agencies to break up serious and organised crime gangs whilst tackling addictions due to a focus on drug misuse. The Home Office will work with the Department for Health and Social Care (DHSC) and Public Health England (PHE) to pilot an intensive whole system approach to tackling drug misuse in select locations worst affected by drug misuse, alongside national activity to disrupt the supply of drugs. Hastings has been identified as one of four pilot locations for this funding due to high rates of drug deaths and high rates of heroin and crack cocaine use.

The care navigation service is being commissioned in order to provide support for those who are part of the Project Adder cohort to engage with the wider health and social care system. There is a strong evidence base which demonstrates the links between harm caused by opiate and crack use and the individuals with multiple complex needs within a community. There is a low engagement rate with wider health and social care interventions within this cohort. The wider health and social care system is vital in addressing the root causes of opiate and crack cocaine use. The service provider will assemble a service which will support individuals to engage with the wider health and social care system in order to maximise and sustain their recovery from opiate and crack use and to minimalise the chance of relapse. This will be achieved by the construction of a buddying system delivered by peers with lived experience of using services, overseen by a co-ordinator. This team will provide support to make, attend and engage with services as well as providing an advocacy function.

The budget for this contract is £125,718 per annum up to 31 March 2023.