Introducing Buvidal as a treatment option does require changes to the way patients within drug treatments services are managed versus the current standard of care, which is predominantly designed around daily supervised medication.

The simple fact that Buvidal is an injection that needs to be administered by a qualified healthcare professional is the first and most obvious difference compared with existing self-administered treatments such as methadone or oral buprenorphine.

However, there are other practical considerations that services will need to adapt to and this can involve every person who has a responsibility for the care of patients, from prescribers to nurses, keyworkers to operational staff.

Initially these changes may seem daunting, but experience from services that have already implemented Buvidal suggests that any challenges can quickly be overcome and that there are many advantages to adopting an alternative standard of care, built around a long acting medication like Buvidal.