WEBSITE
Substance Misuse Management in General Practice
www.smmgp.org.uk
The Substance Misuse Management in General Practice (SMMGP) was set up in 1995 after a small group of GPs realised that many of their colleagues were working in isolation. The group decided to set up a conference to bring these people together to share experiences of substance misuse work and develop a support network.
The project aims to promote the provision of effective care for drug users by developing, supporting and encouraging the role of GPs and other primary care workers to work with problem drug users. The SMMGP also aims to support the development of the evidence base for effective care of drug users in the primary care setting.
The resource library includes clinical and local guidelines, guidance documents, conference reports and presentations.
There is a lot of information on shared care, with the aim of providing those involved in the co-ordination of shared care schemes with the opportunity to share practice and ideas. There are links to documents on the provision of shared care.
The news and events section allows you to keep up to date with the latest on drug misuse management and events. There is also a forum where you can exchange ideas and read about colleagues’ experiences.
CAMPAIGN
Who’s Stealing My Meals?
This is a campaign developed to prevent people from giving up a natural and normal eating rhythm, launched by charity the Weight Foundation, which develops strategies for lasting weight control.
Blaming the food industry for its hard-sell approach, the charity’s campaign ‘Who’s Stealing My meals?’ warns that many people are pressured into hard-core dieting, causing disillusionment which stops them addressing the underlying causes of their poor eating habits.
The website addresses three specific areas where advertising has had a detrimental effect on our eating habits.
The first concerns breakfast cereal, which is now being marketed as an all-day food option. The second is the re-branding of snack food into a food staple.
The third area to be targeted is convenience shopping. The website gives the example of a modern homemaker who replaces a meal with chocolate or alcohol discounted in their local convenience shop.
To combat this, the Weight Foundation has come up with ‘the three small steps approach’, a self-help system which aims to help dieters regain self-control.
For more details, visit the Weight Foundation website on www.weightfoundation.com.
