Drug users seeking help in Dundee have waited more than two months for treatment as services struggle to meet demand, new figures show.
Official data has revealed one in five patients suffered delays to support in the last three months of 2017.
The excessive waits for 42 people highlights the scale of the challenge facing the Drugs Commission, a city-wide drive launched this week to rid Dundee of its status as the drugs death capital of Scotland.
Thirty of those waiting too long were in limbo for between nine and 12 weeks – way beyond the three-week treatment target, the Scottish Government figures show.
Willie Rennie, the leader of the Scottish Liberal Democrats, said the “dramatic fall” in waiting time performance is “terrible news for patients”.
“It is time for a serious overhaul of our drug and alcohol services,” he added.
“Restoring the money the Scottish Government cut from drug and alcohol services is a start but we remain leagues behind our European partners and best practice.
“For example, it makes no sense to imprison people for personal drug possession instead of getting them the treatment they need.
“It is time both the Scottish and UK Governments adopted approaches that are in line with the mainstream medical and scientific evidence of what works to tackle alcohol and drugs misuse.”
The proportion of Dundonians starting treatment within three weeks fell from 97% in the last three months of 2016 to 80.2% in the same period last year.
The decline in performance comes as the number needing medical help increased from 169 to 212.
A spokeswoman for Dundee Health and Social Care Partnership said: “Waiting times have been impacted throughout 2017 by current service capacity.
“Over the past year, as part of our improvement planning, the service has developed a clearer understanding of a future model of delivery.
“This is informing a strategic redesign of our services so that citizens of Dundee and their families receive services which promote recovery and improve accessibility and outcomes.”
In the Drug Commission’s first meeting on Monday, public health minister Aileen Campbell said heroin should be handed out free of charge.
She told the meeting the “logical” move to reduce deaths is to run consumption rooms, where users inject their own gear under supervision, and heroin-assisted treatment, in which patients are prescribed the class A drug.
Dundee City Council has vowed to “leave no stone unturned” in forging a new approach to tackling drugs.
