The Margarete Centre in Hampstead Road

THE NHS has been dumped from running all of Camden’s drug and alcohol treatment services in a decision that will hit hundreds of the borough’s most vulnerable people, it was claimed this week.

The long-running service at the Margarete Centre in Hampstead Road will be shut down from April 1 as part of a deal struck between the council, Change Grow Live (CGL) and the Single Homelessness Project (SHP).

Camden and Islington NHS Foundation Trust (C&I) lost the tender despite decades running the “excellent”-rated service for people addicted to hard drugs like heroin, crack, cocaine and crystal meth.

Long-serving doctors, nurses and physiologists are expected to take up vacant positions elsewhere in the NHS as part of the shake-up but there are concerns that the new service will be run by lesser-trained staff.

Professor Wendy Savage, national President of Keep Our NHS Public and former chair of governors of C&I, told the New Journal she was “horrified” by the decision that she said would see 600 services users “lose the support of doctors they know and trust”, adding: “This concerns me as I have heard that there is a pattern of charities bidding for these contracts and then failing to be able to run them at the cost quoted and being taken over by the private sector.”

“If service-users drop out of their treatment with a new provider they may incur all  the risks that follow such as relapse, crime, prison and accidental overdose.”

CGL – the largest independent provider of substance misuse services in the country – said it would maintain a seamless service from a new location yet to be confirmed.

A joint letter from NHS staff sent to the New Journal, MPs and the council this week: “On April 1, C&I’s clinical expertise, its knowledge of its services users and its services users and its continuity of care will be lost forever in what we believe to be a flawed re-commissioning process.”

Since 2013, drug treatment services have been “commissioned” by Camden Council through a public health grant from central government.

This has had “a devastating effect” on addiction services, the letter said, with NHS teams routinely outbid by providers that do not employ as many specialists or trained staff. The letter also raises concerns that cost has been given too much weight in the tender process.

A former service-user at the Margarete Centre, said the Camden and Islington staff had helped him during “relapses” even though he was no longer on their books.

Neil – he did not want us to use his surname – added: “But what really helped me was not just being sent to rehab and told get on with it. There are people there who have time to build a rapport with you.

Even when I wasn’t going there, and I was scared I was falling apart was going to start using again, they had time to speak to me on the phone. That’s what all the services are missing now around London.”

The staff just have massive caseloads, they simply haven’t got time. It’s so sad.” The changes will also see the Response Clinic in 5 Daleham Gardens, Belsize Park, close.

Vicki Markiewicz, CGL director, said: “Change Grow Live will manage the service alongside SHP and will work closely with Moving Forward, an independent group of service users, to co-produce the service.

“Staff working across the current Camden treatment system, including staff from the C&I will be given the opportunity to move across to work in the new Change Grow Live service.

“The location of Change Grow Live’s new service will be confirmed in the coming weeks and is planned to not be far from current delivery sites.”

C&I said it would “seek to redeploy staff” wanting to stay working for the NHS, adding that it was “committed to ensuring a smooth process”.

A Camden Council spokesperson said: “We are pleased to be working with Change Grow Live (CGL), who met the key criteria required to secure this contract through a thorough procurement process.

“The new contract will increase the support we provide to residents. CGL will maintain all current services and in addition provide more outreach in the community and 24/7 online assistance.”