Unidade de Desabituação Norte – Matosinhos

Unidade de Desabituação Norte is the public inpatient detox unit of ICAD, I.P. for northern Portugal, based on Rua Alfredo Cunha in Matosinhos, Porto district. The closed-regime unit treats withdrawal from alcohol, heroin, cocaine, opioid agonists and benzodiazepines in short stays of one to two weeks, free through the SNS, and admits only on referral from a public treatment team.

The unit grew out of a merger of the northern inpatient services for alcohol and for illicit drugs, and has been described as the only unit in the country admitting both groups together. Admissions are planned with the referring therapist from a CRI treatment team or from the Unidade de Alcoologia, who sends a proposal covering the treatment plan, tests, comorbidities and medication before intake; waiting time to admission can exceed two months. A multidisciplinary team of psychiatrists, nurses and occupational therapists runs a programme in which the first week centres on medication adjustment and the second on a relapse-prevention plan and discharge. Nurses update named family members, and on discharge individuals return to their referring team or move to a therapeutic community.