'Lives are going to be lost': Labour under fire over closure of London's only homeless drug and alcohol detox unit

Next week, the Addiction Clinical Care Suite at St Thomas’ Hospital, which has treated over 1,000 patients for alcohol and opioid dependencies, will shut as a result of central government funding cuts.

Lord Bird, the homelessness campaigner and founder of The Big Issue, has warned that the closure of such crucial facilities risks “rubbish[ing]” the government’s aim to halve rough sleeping by 2029.

Health Secretary Wes Streeting pledged to "look at" the decision to close the facility.

The unit was established in 2021 to “save the lives of some of the city’s most vulnerable people and provide them with an avenue to get off the streets for good.” It provides medical supervision to homeless people battling severe addiction issues, whose withdrawal from drugs or alcohol could result in delirium tremors, seizures or, in the most serious cases, death.

Shortly before Christmas, however, staff at the unit were notified that funding for the Additional Clinical Care Suite had been withdrawn.

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“We have been notified by the City of London Corporation (our commissioner) that funding for the Addiction Clinical Care Suite will cease from 31 March 2026,” an internal memo from Guy’s and St Thomas’s NHS Foundation Trust, seen by LBC, says.

"In recognition of the outstanding work undertaken by the team and the excellent outcomes achieved for patients,” the note continues, “Trust senior management have worked extensively to explore alternative options to sustain the service. Unfortunately, in the current challenging financial climate, this has not been possible."

Data from the Museum of Homelessness shows that 710 people died as a result of drug and alcohol issues in 2024 alone, representing 44% of total deaths among the homeless community.

Clinicians fear that the closure of the unit - a crucial lifeline for individuals with chronic and crippling addiction issues - could exacerbate the problem.

“It's clearly a false economy,” one insider, who spoke to LBC on the condition of anonymity, lamented.

“All that's going to happen is that we're going to see more and more addicts presenting at A&E departments as a last resort, when they are seriously, seriously ill - piling more pressure on staff.

“Lives are going to be lost - I have no doubt about that whatsoever."

Though the service was commissioned by the City of London Corporation, its funding is made up of a series of grants from the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government as well as local authority treatment budgets, which are primarily sourced from the Department of Health and Social Care.

In December, the government’s Homelessness Strategy identified “the continued delivery of targeted and specialist drug and alcohol treatment and support” as one of the measures needed to meet the objective of halving the number of rough sleepers by 2029.

Speaking to LBC, Lord Bird, who has campaigned extensively to support homeless people and founded the Big Issue in 1991, said the closure of the facility will result in significant additional pressure on a host of other services.

“People end up on the streets for all sorts of reasons, [but] I would say the greatest commonality is around drink and drugs,” the non-affiliated peer argued. “These people will end up in prisons, back on the streets, being more chaotic, filling up A&E. It is a kind of terrible reality that it is a short cost-cutting exercise.

“What they're really doing is passing the responsibility back to police officers, social workers, and members of the public. So really what we're doing is pushing the problems back onto the streets.”

In an interview with Nick Ferrari, the Health Secretary opened the door to a review of the decision to shut the unit's doors.

"I am going to go away and look at this," Mr Streeting said. "I look at homeless people on our streets, I look at people with drug and alcohol addiction and it's no exaggeration to say there but for the grace of God go I.

"There are so many people in this country who are one or two missed paydays away from being homeless. I've seen drug and alcohol addiction in my own family, particularly one of my grandparents, my granddad, who was in and out of prison throughout my childhood, my mum's childhood.

"He had suffered terrible abuse as a child and a terrible relationship with alcohol throughout his life. So I've seen the worst of some of this. We can't write these people off, we can't just say it's all their fault."

According to a 2021 review on drug treatment and recovery by Dame Carol Black, each £1 spent on treatment saves £4 through reduced demands on health, prison, law enforcement and emergency services.

However, despite these benefits, the budgets for specialised drug and alcohol grants have been frozen this year. It is believed that this real term cut in funding has contributed to the service at St Thomas’ hospital being deemed financially unviable.

In response to the closure, a spokesperson for the Department of Health and Social Care told LBC: “The government is committed to ensuring that all those with a drug or alcohol problem can access the help and support they need.

“We are investing £3.4 billion over the next three years in drug and alcohol prevention, treatment and recovery services. Local authorities are responsible for commissioning these services according to local need, and this funding can be used to provide inpatient detox services.

“We are working to secure sustainable long-term inpatient detox provision in London. Local authorities are using established services outside inner London to ensure patients continue to receive care, during the commissioning period for this.”

The Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government and Guy’s and St Thomas’ NHS Trust were both approached for comment.