Mimi Byrne, locality manager with West Wales Substance Misuse Service, recently represented the Pembrokeshire and Derwen NHS Trust at an awards ceremony at Buckingham Palace.
Along with colleagues from the Dyfed-Powys Probation Service, the Trust Substance Misuse Service, which covers the three counties in West Wales, received the prestigious Lord Woolf Award for Excellence from HRH The Princess Royal on behalf of the Butler Trust. The represented agencies work in close partnership to provide the Dyfed- Powys Probation Area Drug Treatment and Rehabilitation Scheme.
The scheme aims to break the link between drug use and persistent offending, and to provide fast access and structured drug treatment plans as part of a community based court order, as an alternative to a custodial sentence where appropriate. The orders also include compulsory drug testing.
The scheme has been particularly effective in offering an alternative to long term drug users who have had a record of prison sentences and failure on community based orders.
The award was given in recognition of high quality service provided by the scheme to offenders, the courts and the community and its very high rate of people completing the order and associated treatment plan, which was the highest success rate across England and Wales in 2004-05. This has also resulted in a significant reduction in re- offending. A key part of the scheme is a therapeutic activity programme, which has been very highly valued by those involved.