The HSE plans to provide needle exchange services in Kerry later this year.
This service allows drug users to collect sterile injecting equipment and return used items. The aim of needle exchanges is to reduce risks associated with injecting and sharing equipment.
Needle and syringe exchanges can be fixed or mobile units, which provide drug users with clean, new syringes and disposes of used equipment. An aim is to ultimately reduce risks associated with the transfer of blood-borne viruses, such as HIV.
Some pharmacists already provide needle exchange services; across Cork and Kerry, there are approximately 15 which, collectively, provide 6,100 clean needles per month, according to HSE documents.
The Cork Kerry Community Healthcare Operation Plan 2019 (CKHOP 2019) showed the health service had plans to expand needle exchange services to Tralee. The group says it’ll support the expansion of a needle exchange service in Tralee by the end of 2021.
The recruitment of a mobile outreach worker will begin in the coming months, and the service will target the most marginalised and hard-to-reach clients in Tralee and across Kerry.
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