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Designated Place

Cathy Jamieson MSP opening £250,000 redeveloped Designated Place
in 2004

Discrete entrance to new Designated Place and Office Suite

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Press Release

Alcohol Support Ltd  - Designated Place

Visit by
Lothian Police/ Lothian Drug and Alcohol Team
planning to set up similar facility in Edinburgh
Friday, 14th March 2008

Alcohol Support Ltd is pleased to welcome representatives from Lothian Police and Lothian Drug and Alcohol Team who are visiting the Designated Place at Albyn House on Friday, 14th March 2008 at 10.30 am. 

During a recent visit,  Kenny MacAskill, Justice Minister hailed the pioneering facility and is keen to see similar facilities set up in other cities.  Representatives from Lothian are viewing the recently developed £250,000 facility in Aberdeen with a view to setting up a Designated Place facility in Edinburgh.

Alcohol Support Ltd is the organisation responsible for managing Scotland’s first Designated Place for Drunk and Incapable persons and has been in continuous operation since August 1983.  It has    received over 20,000 referrals to the service in its 25 years of existence.   The Designated Place is a service, which allows partner agencies such as the NHS, Police, Criminal Justice Service and local Authority Social Work to operate more efficiently by accepting potentially disruptive drunken persons into the care of the Designated Place.

Harry Miller, General Manager notes that “the social value of the Designated Place is that it safely and effectively deals with the inevitable human consequences of excessive drinking and allows the individuals arrested by the Police to be cared for in a safe and caring environment. There are no other facilities designed to deal with this problem and all other responses to it compromise the safety of the referral or bring unintended consequences such as unnecessary use of NHS resources or criminal  proceedings for a victimless crime. Drunk and Incapable persons who are left to their own devices are known to have a propensity to commit or become victims of more serious offences such as assaults”.

Alcohol Support Ltd’s Designated Place is currently under threat as a result of the recent budget cuts by Aberdeen City Council.

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Designated Place