Drug users could be offered a facility to go to inject heroin under plans being looked at by health bosses.

It is estimated there is a group of around 500 "very vulnerable people" who inject drugs in public places in Glasgow city centre.

NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde (NHSGGC) has now set up a working group to explore the potential of piloting a drug-injecting facility and heroin-assisted treatment within the city centre.

The majority of those who inject in public are individuals experiencing homelessness, mental health issues, recent imprisonment and poverty.

They are responsible for the majority of discarded needles in public areas such as alleyways, car parks, parks, public toilets, and closes, putting the general public at risk and contributing to other related public order problems.

In 2015, Glasgow City Council, Police Scotland and Community Safety Glasgow dealt with hundreds of instances of discarded needles and drug misuse in the city centre.

There was an HIV outbreak in the city last year, with 47 new infections compared to the previously consistent annual average of ten.

There have also been several other outbreaks of serious infectious diseases such as botulism and anthrax.

The health board's Glasgow City Alcohol and Drug Partnership (ADP) will build a business case on the plans.

Medically supervised drug injecting facilities have been running since the mid-1980s with 90 facilities across 61 cities currently running.

The majority are in Europe, there is one in Vancouver, one in Sydney and approval has been granted for facilities in Dublin and across France.

NHSGGC said the facilities "seek to contribute to a reduction in drug use in public places and the presence of discarded needles and other related public order problems linked with public injecting".

It added: "They are clean, hygienic environments where people can inject drugs under clinical supervision.

"The facilities provide sterile needles to reduce the risk of infections like HIV, assistance in the event of an overdose and provide linked up health services."

Susanne Millar, chief officer of planning and strategy and chairwoman of the ADP, said: "There are approximately 5500 drug injectors in Glasgow with around 500 of these injecting in public in the city centre.

"While this is a tiny percentage of the city's population, it has a huge level of need and consists of a huge cost to the public purse.

"People injecting drugs in public spaces are experiencing high levels of harm and are impacting on the wider community.

"We need to make our communities safer for all people living in and visiting the city, including those who publicly inject.

"Last year, the Assertive Outreach Team dealing with homeless injectors distributed almost 13,000 sterile needles.

"Of that number, only 16 or 0.1% of the used needles were returned to an injecting equipment centre for safe disposal."

Dr Emilia Crighton, director of public health at NHSGGC, and vice-chairwoman of the ADP, said: "We are decades behind other countries in the way we tackle this problem.

"In line with our current research, it's clear we need to move beyond the current model in order to meet the needs of our communities and this very vulnerable group.

"In recent years Glasgow has been at the centre of outbreaks of anthrax, botulism and most recently HIV infection in people who inject drugs.

"This public injecting group has high rates of hospital admissions, incarceration and homelessness.

"Conventional treatment and services have not been as effective as we would want in reducing health risks and the resulting costs.

"Our ultimate goal is for drug users to recover from their addiction and remain drug free.

"However, until someone is ready to seek and receive help to stop using drugs it is important to keep them as safe as possible while do they continue to use drugs."