\n It was launched in June due to increased demand on health services from people using the class B drug which is an anaesthetic and which can cause serious bladder problems even requiring removal in some cases.\u00a0\n<\/p>\n
\n Patients\u00a0with bladder and kidney\u00a0problems\u00a0are treated by the urology department based at Newport\u2019s Royal Gwent Hospital.\u00a0\n<\/p>\n
\n Councillors, who were briefed on drug related deaths in Gwent<\/a> and services to support users, were told a rise in ketamine use\u00a0had led the establishment of the group<\/a>.\u00a0\n<\/p>\n \n Maria Evans, from Gwent\u2019s Aneurin Bevan University Health Board, told the council meeting:\u00a0\u201cIn the last six months\u00a0we\u2019ve\u00a0had to set up a\u00a0ketamine pathway unit inside the urology unit at the Royal Gwent due to the number of people needing new bladders\u00a0as a result of\u00a0ketamine use.\u201d\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\n<\/p>\n \n A spokesman\u00a0for the health board\u00a0said a \u201cclinical pathway\u201d is intended to show the best route for treating a specific condition. Due to an increase in patients presenting with problems caused by ketamine use it set up the dedicated working group or \u201ctask and finish group\u201d\u00a0bringing together urology specialists as well as drug support workers\u00a0and service users.\u00a0\n<\/p>\n \n It discusses how to address ketamine use\u00a0and how to raise awareness of the risks involved\u00a0as well as treatment short of having a bladder removed and replaced\u00a0with a\u00a0urostomy bag to collect urine, which is known as\u00a0cystectomy.\u00a0\n<\/p>\n \n The health board\u00a0spokesman\u00a0said despite the increase in ketamine use\u00a0cystectomy\u00a0remains\u00a0a rare\u00a0treatment for ketamine\u00a0patients\u00a0but any requiring bladder removal are put on a regular waiting list and\u00a0cancer patients will always have a higher priority.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\n<\/p>\n \n The\u00a0spokesman\u00a0said: \u201cThe pathway we are discussing is to raise awareness of a identified problem. Its to try to prevent ketamine users needing to use hospital resources.\u00a0\u00a0\n<\/p>\n \n \u00a0\u201cIf we can raise awareness of the dangers of ketamine use to the bladder and\u00a0kidneys\u00a0we may prevent any complications at all if a person decides against taking it. Ketamine users with minor problems with their bladder in the\u00a0early stages\u00a0just need help and support to stop. That\u2019s\u00a0where\u00a0collaborating with drug and alcohol services can help as they can support them to stop ketamine\u00a0\n<\/p>\n \n \u201cThis is about health promotion and education of both young people and parents, raising awareness of a growing problem and treating early problems out of the NHS setting, therefore preventing unnecessary pressures to the system.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"It was launched in June due to increased demand on health services from people using the class B…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":366369,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[33],"tags":[64,63,137,490],"class_list":{"0":"post-366368","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-medication","8":"tag-au","9":"tag-australia","10":"tag-health","11":"tag-medication"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/366368","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=366368"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/366368\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/366369"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=366368"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=366368"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=366368"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}