December 2015 |
drinkanddrugsnews
| 19
Review of the year |
2015
OBITUARY
JUDY
BURY
Chris Ford says goodbye to a passionate
and inspirational colleague
It’s with great sadness that we announce the death of Judy Bury,
who died peacefully on 13 October 2015 in Edinburgh. Judy was one
of the most inspirational, passionate and intelligent women I have
ever known.
Judy started her career in sexual health services and always
campaigned for the underdog. She was a proactive founder member of
Doctors for a Woman’s Choice on Abortion (DWCA) – always defending
women’s right to choice.
Later she became a hardworking GP in Craigmillar, a socially deprived
area of Edinburgh, where she was a tireless and popular doctor. When
the epidemic of HIV spread amongst Edinburgh’s people who used
drugs and gay men, Judy quickly became involved and before long was
appointed GP facilitator to one of the first HIV facilitation teams, with
the remit of educating GPs to cope with this new disease and manage
people who use drugs in their practices. She was a brilliant teacher,
and communicated effectively with fellow GPs, the community drug
problem service and HIV agencies.
Before long, the Scottish Office asked her to help in the production of
national guidelines for the management of drug users in general
practice which, when published, were timely and well received.
Close to our SMMGP hearts, Judy was there at the beginning, helping
to arrange both the first conference (now in its 20th year) and the
newsletter. I remember her speaking at that first conference and
saying we (general practitioners) needed to care for people and never
judge them until they wanted to change.
Some of you ‘young uns’ might not remember her as she retired,
because of ill health, about 11 years ago. But true to form even when
unwell she fought tirelessly for the ‘Yes’ campaign in Scotland and
gathered together a group of doctors to form Doctors for Assisted
Suicide (DAS).
Judy always gave such a lot to people and causes she believed in. Many
of us loved her, and after a difficult last illness she is at peace now.
Dr Chris Ford
JULY/AUGUST
Bleak news as Scotland records its
highest ever number of drug-related
deaths, 16 per cent up on the
previous year. The country still faces a
‘huge challenge in tackling the
damaging effects of long-term drug
use among an aging cohort’, says
community safety minister Paul
Wheelhouse. Prof Dame Carol black
launches her review into ‘supporting
benefit claimants with addictions
and potentially treatable conditions
back into work’ and ASH tells
DDN
that the Welsh government’s plans to
ban the use of e-cigarettes in public
places amounts to a misguided
attack on an effective harm reduction
tool, although the claim in a PHE
report that the devices are 95 per
cent less harmful than smoking
tobacco proves divisive.
SEPTEMBER
More grim news as England follows
Scotland to announce its highest
drug death toll – although fatalities
in Wales are down – prompting
Addaction chief Simon Antrobus to
call on the government to re-think
proposed cuts to local authority
health spending. ‘The stakes are
simply too high to do otherwise’, he
states. The European Court of Justice
deals a blow to Scotland’s minimum
pricing plans by stating that they
could breach EU trade laws, while
Portuguese health minister Fernando
Leal Da Costa tells the pan-European
Lisbon addictions
conference that
Portugal’s decriminalisation
approach is a ‘sensible and rational’
one that other countries could
follow. Recovery month sees a
vibrant range of activities across the
UK, and Dave Marteau’s
DDN
piece
on the risks of diverted methadone
ruffles some feathers.
OCTOBER
Another month, another stark report
– this time from the ACMD, whose
second publication on opioid
replacement therapy for the Inter-
Ministerial Group on Drugs warns
that heroin treatment is being
threatened by diminishing resources
and constant rounds of ‘disruptive
re-procurement’. Another group of
MPs, the Home Affairs Committee,
concludes that the government is
rushing, and weakening, its
psychoactive substances legislation,
while Phoenix Futures cautions that
people’s recovery is under threat
from a ‘perfect storm’ of conditions
in the UK’s over-heated rental
market.
NOVEMBER
Chemsex hits the national headlines
when a
BMJ
editorial calls it a ‘public
health priority’ and a scathing report
from the Institute of Alcohol Studies
says the government’s ‘laughable’
public health responsibility deal for
alcohol may be ‘worsening’ the
health of the nation. Stirling
University’s Rowdy Yates tells
DDN
that it’s time to get over the
‘residential bad, community good’
attitude, while Ian Sherwood writes
that the sector needs to be braver in
calling for drug law reform. The
government’s spending review
makes more cuts to cash-strapped
local authorities, sending further
shivers through a drug treatment
sector expecting the worst and
increasing demand for a meaningful
drug strategy in the new year.
DECEMBER
Plans are already well under way for
the ninth national service user
involvement conference,
Get the
picture
. See you there!
