Free phone for alcoholics

[Gob]

A good idea?

Health chiefs have launched a £75,000 project to send encouraging texts to alcoholics on special mobile phones.


Detox patients will receive automated daily SMS messages to check they're staying sober. They'll text back to say they're doing OK - or need help. The dedicated handsets are being handed out to 120 addicts in Bolton, Greater Manchester, in the first scheme of its kind in Britain. They cannot be used to make or receive standard calls.

If patients respond to their daily text with a positive response, saying they are fine, they get an automated reply congratulating them on their progress. But if they text back that they are in danger of drinking again, they'll be offered face-to-face help or a phone conversation with a key worker as soon as possible. The programme was developed after research showed 80 to 90 per cent of people treated for alcohol dependency relapse within a year.

Debra Malone, consultant in public health at NHS Bolton, said: 'The best way to make sure service users successfully adjust to a life without alcohol is to provide them with ongoing support during this difficult period of adjustment. 'However, this is not easy to achieve when the client is back in their own home. Normally there is little or no contact between the service user and the service in the periods between set appointments and it is often during these periods that people can experience stress and be tempted to drink again. We hope this project can change that.'

Bolton is the first place in the country to use the innovative technique to help detox patients. The Bolton Relapse Prevention Project is a joint initiative between NHS Bolton, Greater Manchester West Mental Health NHS Foundation Trust and d2 Digital by Design, funded by healthcare improvement charity The Health Foundation. The 120 phones being given out are designed solely for the scheme.

They can send to and receive messages from an automated system and cannot be used for any other purpose. This means the handsets have no street value. If someone does not reply, a member of the alcohol team will ring them on their home phone. It is hoped that by maintaining contact with patients and providing them with a line of direct communication, more people will successfully complete their post-detox treatment programme and be able to stay alcohol-free.

Other possible benefits include reducing demand on other health services, the criminal justice system and welfare agencies. If the scheme works, the technology could be used to help people with a range of conditions.


Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/health/artic ... z1ImqpVU7c

[MajGenl.Meade]

"Are you staying sober?"

"couse ihyou fking amds u 38pis

"Good good. Well done"

[Sean]

"Are you staying sober?"

"couse ihyou fking amds u 38pis

"Good good. Well done"

LMAO

I was imagining:

"Are you staying sober?"
"Yer my best mate you are... I fucking love you! Are you looking at my bird?"

*Nuts phone*

[oldr_n_wsr]

Already in place is the "sponsor" system and multiple phone numbers given out by fellow alcoholics to the new/relapse person. I know in my experience, if someone (or something) called me everday askng how I was, it might lead me back to the bottle. I prefer calling when having a problem, not getting a call when I am fine.