A DRUG recovery service has reviewed its protocol after one of its user's was found hanged, less than a week after failing to attend an appointment.

Keith Greenhalgh had been known to Bolton Achieve since around 2013 due to his addictions to heroin and crack cocaine.

In June 2018, Mr Greenhalgh was given a supervised prescription of methadone by the service.

Speaking at Mr Greenhalgh's inquest, Mark Howarth-Mudd, a recovery co-ordinator at Achieve told Bolton Coroner's Court that they saw the 41-year-old on a regular basis until March 2019.

Mr Howarth-Mudd added: "His attendance was very good."

Mr Greenhalgh went on to miss an appointment on April 5, before turning up for one on April 23.

He failed to collect his methadone on May 4, 5, and 6. Then on May 7, Mr Greenhalgh missed another appointment.

Mr Howarth-Mudd tried to contact Mr Greenhalgh by telephone but no attempts were made to visit his last known address - his mother's house in Moorland Grove

Five days later, Mr Greenhalgh's mother Vivienne Greenhalgh found him hanged in her bathroom.

Toxicology reports showed that he had heroin, cocaine, diazepam, and pregabalin in his system.

Acting senior coroner for Manchester West, Alan Walsh voiced concerns about Achieve not attempting to visit Mr Greenhalgh.

He said: "That's not right is it?

"There should have been some sort of proactive attempt to trace him using his last known address."

Richard Cross, acting team manager at Achieve Bolton, confirmed that following a review, a new policy is now in place.

He said: "We recognised this concern around missed appointments and had a pathway review.

"Following my investigation, there have been a number of recommendations and the outreach team will now attempt to make a welfare visit at the person's known address.

"Training has been completed."

Mr Walsh accepted the medical cause of death as hanging and recorded a narrative conclusion.

He described Mr Greenhalgh's death as: "self-suspension by ligature, while under the influence of drugs."

He said he did not have sufficient evidence to rule the death as suicide but ruled out third party involvement or suspicious circumstances.

"His intentions at the time remain unclear," he added.