The riskiest moments in opioid dependence treatment are often the gaps: the day someone leaves custody, the day they are discharged from hospital, the week a support worker changes. A dose that does not carry across a transition is when people are most at risk. We would rather take a phone call early than have a gap.
Leaving custody
If you are dosing in custody and you are being released, your dosing does not have to stop. It can carry across to a community pharmacy, and we are one of the pharmacies that can take that hand-over in Melbourne's west.
Call us before you are released, if you can. Even a few days' notice helps. We can confirm arrangements with your prison health service and your community prescriber so that a dose is ready for you. If you have already been released and your dosing has lapsed, call us anyway, and do not wait. We will work out the safest next step with a prescriber.
A family member, a transition or reintegration worker, or your community corrections officer can make the first call for you. We will still need your consent before we act, but the first call can come from anyone.
The first weeks after release carry a high overdose risk, because tolerance drops during any break in use. Take naloxone with you. It is free, and we will show you, and someone close to you, how to use it.
Leaving hospital
If you have been in hospital and your dose was managed there, the same applies. Tell the hospital team where you dose in the community, and call us before discharge if you can. We will coordinate the hand-over with the hospital and your prescriber so that your first community dose is ready.
If you have an NDIS plan
If you have an NDIS plan and a support coordinator or support worker, we can work with them. With your consent, we can talk with your coordinator about dosing times, transport, reminders, and fitting dosing around your other supports. Pharmacotherapy itself is funded through the PBS and Medicare rather than the NDIS, but the practical coordination around it can sit inside your plan.
For outreach and case workers
If you support someone who is dosing, or who needs to start, you are welcome to call the dosing pharmacist directly. Hostel and housing workers, AOD case workers, justice and reintegration workers, hospital social workers and NDIS coordinators all reach the same line. We can talk through current capacity, what a referral needs, and how to keep a dose from lapsing during a transition. With the person's consent, we will keep you in the loop.