The Public Health Institute Drug Related Deaths conference 2023 took place online Thursday 16th March 2023 via Microsoft Teams

The day was split into five sessions, with presentations and Q&A sessions from 14 great speakers.

Over 700 people attended online, a big thank you to everyone to attended, presented, and contributed during the day.

Links for PDF copies of presentations from the day are now available on the DRD conference page, as well as the recording from the morning sessions. There was some great discussion and networking taking place in the chat area, so we've also shared some resources mentioned during discussions too.

After two years of online Drug Related Deaths annual conferences, we decided to bring our partners together again for in-person events in December 2022.

These took the form of two area events, for Cheshire and Merseyside on Friday 9th December, and Greater Manchester on Wednesday 14th December. These in-person events brought together commissioners, treatment providers, and other services from each area, and are accompanied by our online Drug Related Deaths conference in early 2023.

The area events included presentations from invited speakers, as well as a summary of current data for the area, and presentations from all service providers. The presentations from these events are available below.

Presentations from these events are available on the DRD event page.

Detail and download links for our various posters presentations featuring the Integrated Monitoring System.

Including our posters presented at at the 2023 Harm Reduction International #HR23 Conference in Melbourne, the INHSU 2022 Conference in Glasgow, and the 2019 Harm Reduction International #HR19 Conference in Porto.

The IMS Drug Related Deaths annual conference 2021 took place online as a Microsoft Teams Webinar on the morning of Thursday 2nd December.

While part of the conference’s focus was on Cheshire and Merseyside data from 2020, with the system now being rolled out to the 10 Greater Manchester local authorities it also looked at some of the broader issues we are facing as a region.

We were joined at the conference by a number of speakers including activist and campaigner Peter Krykant who spoke about the work in Glasgow with his pioneering drug consumption van alongside his new role with the charity Cranstoun, and heard from Anyone’s Child, the campaign by Transform Drug Policy Foundation to “end the war on drugs, better protect our children, and get drugs under control.”

Presentations and a recording of the event are available on the DRD event page.

Our 2021 IMS annual user group event took place online as a Microsoft Teams Webinar on the morning of Thursday 21st October 2021.

The IMS event, attended by service providers and commissioners for all Local Authority areas across Cheshire and Merseyside, focussed on the impact of Covid-19 on IMS reporting services around Cheshire and Merseyside.

The webinar was recorded and is available to watch online, it is available together with speaker information and presentations on the IMS event page.

The 2020 Cheshire & Merseyside Drug Related Deaths area-wide event took place as an online event on Thursday 26th November 2020.

Due to COVID restrictions the 2020 event took place virtually via Zoom. While we were disappointed not to meet in person this year, we're pleased that the event was very well supported with over 160 people logging in to the event. The online event allowed us to invite speakers and guests from across the UK for some very interesting presentations. We were also able to use Zoom breakout rooms for discussion groups on topics associated with drug related death.

The Zoom event was recorded and is now available to watch online, it can be found alongside information and presentations from the day on the DRD event page.

IMS introduction and overview
This short presentation introduces the Integrated Monitoring System, and includes figures from the 2017-18 reporting period as examples of outputs from the system.

IMS cohorts methodology
This diagram explains the process where IMS clients are divided into one of the three cohort groups: PWID Psychoactive Drug / PWID Steroids & IPEDs / Brief Intervention ‘only’ clients.

IMS client numbers methodology
IMS is primarily used for the recording of 'non-structured' (Tier 2) activity so does not use a 'discharge date'. This example illustrates where clients are counted as 'active' if they have any activity recorded during the report period.

Our 2019 Cheshire & Merseyside Drug Related Deaths area-wide event took place at the Quaker Meeting House Liverpool on Thursday 24th October 2019.

The event included speakers from Blackpool, Teesside, and Derbyshire, and brought togther many services from across Cheshire & Merseyside working together to discuss issues around drug related death. More information and presentations from the day are be available on the DRD event page.

Our annual IMS user group event for 2019 took place on Thursday 19th September, at Liverpool John Moores University's Exchange Station.

As well as a summary of IMS activity for the past year and an overview of drug related death reporting, presentations were given by two IMS reporting services; the New Start 'RISE' Harm Reduction Service, and the Footsteps Project.

More details are available on the IMS user group event page.

Our Cheshire & Merseyside Drug Related Deaths area-wide event took place at Liverpool John Moores University, Exchange Station on Thursday 11th October 2018.

The event saw many services from across Cheshire & Merseyside working together to address issues around drug related death.

More information and presentations from the day are available on the DRD event page.

The annual IMS user group event for 2018 took place on the 14th September, at Liverpool John Moores University's Exchange Station.

As well as a summary of IMS activity for the past year and an overview of drug related death reporting, presentations were given by two IMS reporting services; the Red Umbrella Project, and the Hope Centre Project.

More details togther with presentations from the event are available on the IMS user group event page.

Our IMS user group event for 2017 took place in Liverpool John Moores University's Redmonds Building Lecture theatres on Tuesday 18th July.

The meeting included a look at provisional figures from the forthcoming 2016-17 annual report, along with presentations on the new client cohort groups, an overview of new reporting tools, an update on drug-related deaths, and a talk about the diagnosis and treament of Hepatitis C among people who inject drugs.

Presentations from the event are available on the event page.

The IMS user group event for 2016 took place at the Redmonds Building, Liverpool John Moores University, on Thursday 14th July.

The event was an opportunity to meet other people using the system across the region and to hear the views of those with responsibility for commissioning services and see how the data helps them plan services moving forward. Topics discussed included: Developments in the IMS data set and future plans for IMS

Presenstions were also given on smoking cessation and the use of Smokerlyzers® for carbon monoxide monitoring.