Two specialist drug treatment programmes serving Glasgow residents will be closed and consolidated into a single combined model as part of a drive to reduce spending by approximately £2m. The Enhanced Drug Treatment Service (EDTS) and the Complex Needs Service will be replaced by a redesigned successor, which is expected to retain specialist capabilities while eliminating operational overlap.
The city's Integrated Joint Board, comprising councillors and NHS representatives, approved the closure on Wednesday. The EDTS currently delivers supervised treatment for individuals with chronic opioid dependency, while the Complex Needs Service supports people experiencing trauma and mental illness. Both programmes operate from the Hunter Street health centre, which also houses the Thistle safer drug consumption room.
The decision arrives as new National Record of Scotland data showed 196 people died from drug use in Glasgow during 2025, reflecting the ongoing severity of the city's addiction crisis. Scotland's drug-related deaths rose 11% to 1,133 nationally in 2025, maintaining Europe's worst fatality rate, with criminal gangs mixing synthetic opioids into existing drugs complicating prevention efforts.
The Integrated Joint Board, which oversees the city's health and social care partnership, must find savings exceeding £100m over the next three years. A successor service designed with input from clinical experts will return to the board for formal approval in November 2026.
How will the new service operate?
The combined model aims to preserve the most effective elements of both existing programmes while modernising the support framework. Heroin-assisted treatment will continue under the new arrangement. According to budget documentation, the two services currently cost £1.3m annually; the redesign will save £850,000, with £450,000 reinvested to create a new combined service operating on a £1.2m budget.
Pat Togher, chief officer of the health and social care partnership, explained the rationale for consolidation:
We now have the Thistle service, which we didn't have when these services were stood up at the beginning. I'm sure there are other services that we have developed in the intervening period.The Thistle facility, which opened on 13 January 2025 as the UK's first safer drug consumption room, operates daily from 9am to 9pm at 55 Hunter Street and has become a central hub for addiction-related interventions.
Kelda Gaffney, chief social work officer, stated the redesigned service would
keep the best of both partswhile modernising support delivery. The board believes consolidating the two programmes will maintain specialist expertise while reducing duplication and improving operational efficiency.
What was the political response?
The proposal divided the board along party lines. Labour and Green councillors voted to reject the closure, while SNP councillors supported it. Trade union Unison had previously warned that reducing drug treatment services during what it described as an unprecedented crisis would be unacceptable, and workers have indicated they could strike over the wider Glasgow cost-cutting proposals, which include closures of day-care centres and the planned merger of drug services.
What developments are planned for the Hunter Street site?
The Hunter Street health centre is becoming an increasingly consolidated hub for addiction services. Glasgow's first drug-checking service is scheduled to open on 5 October 2026 at the same location as the Thistle facility, allowing people to test substances for harmful adulterants before use. Similar services are planned for Aberdeen and Dundee.
The convergence of these services—the Thistle consumption room, the new drug-checking facility, and the consolidated treatment programme—reflects a shift toward integrated harm reduction and treatment provision at a single accessible location. This consolidation follows the closure of a residential drug service in August 2026 after a prolonged rent and repairs dispute with the council-owned landlord, which prompted the nearby crisis centre to relocate to that site.
Key Facts
- The Enhanced Drug Treatment Service and Complex Needs Service will merge into a single redesigned programme, saving approximately £2m
- The combined service will operate on a £1.2m annual budget, with £450,000 of savings reinvested in service delivery
- Heroin-assisted treatment will continue under the new model
- The successor service will return to the board for approval in November 2026
- A drug-checking service is scheduled to open at the same Hunter Street site on 5 October 2026
