Home / Needle Exchange – How to get clean injecting equipment

Needle Exchange – How to get clean injecting equipment

Home / Needle Exchange – How to get clean injecting equipment

Needle Exchange – How to get clean injecting equipment

We offer free and confidential Needle Exchange services throughout Bristol at various locations including selected pharmacies. You do not need to make an appointment.

If you attend a BDP Needle Exchange at one of our dedicated walk-in centres, you will also be able to speak to someone in confidence and find out more about other support we can offer you. If it’s your first time accessing a BDP Needle Exchange, you will need to complete a 15 minute registration on arrival.

Find a Needle Exchange near you

Use the map below to find your closest Needle Exchange. A full range of resources and support will only be offered at BDP Needle Exchanges. You can still receive sterile injecting equipment and return sharp boxes to pharmacies.

Please note: Specialised injecting equipment for people using Image & Performance Enhancing Drugs (IPEDs) are only available at BDP Health & Harm Reduction Centre.

What we offer

Once you are registered at a BDP Needle Exchange, exchanges will only take a few minutes depending on your needs.

We are here to give you safer injecting advice, access to appropriate sterile equipment and explore safer alternatives to injecting if available. We will ask you what drugs you are using, how long you have been using them, how you are using them and how often and how much.

We will give you time to ask us any questions about your use and health and give you the opportunity to explore making changes to your drug use.

Total Dose Injecting

When you inject, some of your drug remains in the void spaces of the syringe (know as the ‘dead space’), meaning you don’t get your full dose.

If you use Low Dead Space (LDS) equipment, you will get more of your drug with each shot as less is being left behind. This means you do not need to ‘flush’ (draw blood back into the syringe and re-inject) helping to reduce the damage to your veins and reduce the risk of passing on blood-borne viruses.

Types of Syringes

Needles are measured in both their length in millimetres and their external diameter, known as the gauge. Barrels are measured in millilitres. We will provide you with advice about what equipment will suit your needs and help you reduce harm to your body.

• Fixed Syringes: We provide Low Dead Space syringes, with the needles and barrels attached.
• Detachable Needles and Barrels: Detachable needles and barrels are provided separately for you to mix-and-match. We provide a range of Low Dead Space detachable needles. Hubs of detachable needles are colour coded as shorthand for the different gauges.

Other Resources

To reduce the harm taking drugs causes we also provide pre-injection swabs, foil, cooking spoons, filters and citric acid. We can also provide you with:

• Sharps bins for safe needle disposal in smaller and larger sizes, holding approximately 20 or 40 syringes.
• Wound care packs containing bandages and sterile dressings for short term first aid.
• Blood-borne virus testing and support if you are at risk or have shared equipment.
• Naloxone training and supply – a lifesaving drug that temporarily reverses the effects of an opioid overdose.
• Sexual health advice and signposting to Bristol’s Sexual Health Services. We can also provide condoms, lubricant and pregnancy tests.

Drug Litter

If you find any discarded needles or other drug litter in the street, please do not touch them. You can report drug litter directly to Bristol City Council’s Street Cleaning team.

REPORT DRUG LITTER