CALLS have been made for greater scrutiny of alcohol and drug services in Inverclyde.

Inverclyde Integrated Joint Board vice chair Alan Cowan voiced concerns about a continued underspend of £320,000 in the service because of recruiting and commissioning problems.

This is despite the region having one of the worst records on both drug and alcohol deaths in the country.

Mr Cowan said: "I have consistently raised this. We consistently under spend on alcohol and drugs, and we know this is because we struggle to recruit.

"Inverclyde has a specific and entrenched problem in this area, it might be helpful to have a stronger look at what is going on.

"We have not been able to spend our budget, year on year, on this and we need a greater understanding of what the difficulties are and more detail about some of the things going on."

It followed a question raised by Councillor Martin McCluskey about the underspend in alcohol and drugs and mental health services.

Health and social care officials explained that they have had difficulties recruiting staff and commissioning services since the pandemic.

There has also been more funding and greater priorities attached to the service following the record increases in drug deaths nationally.

Katrina Phillips told the meeting that they were now using funding to commission rehab places from Turning Point Scotland.

Members were also told that they continue to work with the third sector on recovery and access.

Chairman, Councillor Robert Moran, said: "It is a real problem and Alan makes a good point. It is an undeniable fact that Glasgow and Dundee are the only places doing worse than us for drug deaths.

"It is difficult to show an underspend in that area when we are doing so badly. So I think it is correct that we should follow up on this.

"It is something that we really need to keep an eye on. The facts speak louder than words unfortunately."

It was decided that a report should be brought to the audit committee to monitor progress.