The opening of the UK’s first consumption room in Glasgow has been delayed while checks are made to the building. The facility had previously been set to open on 21 October.
A spokesperson for Glasgow City Council told the BBC that ‘like any project of this scale, there are complexities which need to be worked out. Whilst we haven’t been able to meet our estimated opening date, all partners continue to work at pace to ensure we get this service open as soon as possible. This will happen once the building passes the stringent NHS Assure process which has been put in place to ensure public safety.’
The consumption room, which is located on Hunter Street in the east end of the city, will include injecting booths and medical rooms and operate for 12 hours a day, seven days a week.
This summer Glasgow City Health and Social Care Partnership announced that feedback from engagement sessions with people with lived experience had led to some late changes to the layout of the service, including the addition of a shower room and a secure outside area. The recruitment campaign for the facility had been a success, said service manager Lynn MacDonald, with more than 700 applications and staff due to come into post in August.
The consumption room was finally given the go-ahead by Glasgow’s Integration Joint Board last September, after Scotland’s lord advocate said it would not be in the public interest to prosecute people using the facility for simple possession offences.