Drugs And Health Development Project

Donna Lawson

On several occassions over the last 4/5 years especially I have offered to provide broad based Advocacy for people, mainly concerning dealing with O.T.S and C.A.D.S, as well as M.S.D & other related agencies.I was turned down inspite of my work background and work experience in England & my degree and Masters. I am also concerned about the lack of interest shown in Hep C,this NGO has always been far too insular, and currently should be involved in providing support for those getting treatment(geno type dependent) & those who are not.There should be a functioning support group that is a mix of peer support and a facilitator. It would also be very useful to have workshops, perhaps on a monthly basis that involve clinicans in this area, those from Gastro & I.F.D, including nurses.This project has some fantastic staff that could move the service forward from being reactive to proactive. Currently I do not feel it is a good service, & there is a huge gap that will only be met by good quality outreach work.The frontline workers know which groups within the community whose needs are not being met.As I said there are workers within this project that have a huge amount of knowledge that needs harnessing, hats off to Nic Hall &Catherine Burbery. The governance structure of this project is surely due for scrutiny. How can an employed worker/manager be chair of the governance board, surely this is an unhealthy conflict of interests.There is a serious lack of training & understanding of both specific roles & what good governance means. These issues could be rectified will support and the willingness to change. I am unsure that these things are present.This is a project that could & should be doing so much, but I feel is doing the bare minimum.

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