Young People's Drug and Alcohol Treatment at the Crossroads (24th February 2010)The drug and alcohol treatment system needs to be more flexible if it is to effectively meet the needs of older teenagers and young adults developing substance misuse problems, according to a new DrugScope report.
The charity’s 'Young people’s drug and alcohol treatment at the crossroads 'report draws on consultations with over 150 professionals who support young drug and alcohol users, as well as the views of service users themselves, from across England. It finds that the drugs causing most problems for young people are cannabis and alcohol, with many also using a range of substances including cocaine, ketamine, GBL and ‘legal highs’ such as mephedrone.
Report
Summary
Press Release Drug and alcohol treatment in the North West of England 2008/09 (15th March 2010)This publication details the results of the National Drug Treatment Monitoring System (NDTMS) in the North West of England during 2008/09. The NDTMS was introduced in April 2001 to collect data on all clients in contact with structured treatment services (i.e. high threshold tier 3 and 4 services as defined by the Models of Care, see National Treatment Agency [NTA] 2002). To take into account the recent developments in NDTMS monitoring and reporting, this report provides an overview of the NDTMS data for the region and has been divided into the following sections:
- Problematic Drug Users (PDU) and all drug users (aged over 18) in effective structured drug treatment
- Individuals in contact with structured drug treatment
- Young People (under 18) in contact with structured drug and alcohol treatment
- Individuals in contact with structured alcohol treatment.
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Joint Guidance on Development of Local Protocols between Drug and Alcohol Treatment Services and Local Safeguarding and Family Services (3rd November 2009)This guidance is intended to help commissioners and providers meet existing commitments by providing the latest information and highlighting good practice.
Guidance Evaluation: Top Tips for Commissioners and Practitioners (October 2009)This paper, from Greater Manchester Public Health Practice Unit, aims to give commissioners and service providers a framework to enable a more efficient method of carrying out evaluation. It explains the purpose of evaluation, types of evaluation with examples, and discusses service user involvement and engagement
Document Outline Service Specification: Personalised Care Planning for People with Long Term Conditions (3rd November 2009)This Outline Service Specification (OSS) has been developed to assist NHS commissioners to put in place appropriate arrangements to ensure people with long-term conditions have informed choice of, and access to, services that best enable them to manage their condition.
Document Meeting the health needs of children and young people a guide for commissioners (3rd November 2009)Healthcare for London has published new NHS guidance on improving healthcare for children and young people in London.
The guide recommends:
- establishing paediatric assessment units in all hospitals that have an A&E department to ensure children get the right care as quickly as possible
- healthcare be delivered in the home where appropriate or as close to home as possible reducing unnecessary visits to hospital
- creating multidisciplinary teams of health professionals to deliver care more locally and making best use of specialist skills in the right setting.
Guide
Injection Drug Use and Related Risk Behaviors (29th October 2009)Combined 2006 to 2008 data, from the National Survey on Drug Use and Health, indicate that an annual average of 425,000 persons aged 12 or older (0.17 percent) used a needle to inject heroin, cocaine, methamphetamine, or other stimulants during the past year. 13.0 percent of past year injection drug users had used a needle that they knew or suspected someone else had used before them the last time they used a needle to inject drugs, and less than one third (29.0 percent) of them cleaned the needle with bleach prior to their last injection. More than one half (52.8 percent) of past year injection drug users purchased the last needle they used from a pharmacy, and 12.4 percent obtained the needle through a needle exchange program.
Report Estimating drug harms: a risky business? (October 2009)Taking a drug is not currently illegal in the UK, and while there have been attempts to make it so, the most reasoned arguments suggest this is not a particularly useful way of reducing harm.
In this edited transcript of the 2009 Eve Saville lecture Professor Nutt discusses drug regulation and control, drugs politics and suggests a way forward on the drugs debate.
Publication 2009 Annual report: the state of the drugs problem in Europe (November 2009)The report on the state of the drugs problem in Europe presents the European Monitoring Centre for Drugs and Drug Addictions (EMCDDA's) yearly overview of the drug phenomenon. This is an essential reference book for policymakers, specialists and practitioners in the drugs field or indeed anyone seeking the latest findings on drugs in Europe. Published every autumn, the report contains non-confidential data supported by an extensive range of figures.
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Breaking the Cycle. A three year pilot project (October 2009)The objectives of this project was to work with families in Cumbria, Derby and Tower Hamlets:
- to reduce their substance use
- improve their parenting skills
- help establish boundaries and structures within the home
- put children's needs first
- encourage adults to improve their economic situation
The overall findings showed that the approach that Breaking the Cycle took contributed to the empowerment, changes and improved the lives of the families who took part.
Summary
Guidance for the pharmacological management of substance misuse among young people (2nd October 2009)Until now there has been no formal guidance to help clinicians to manage substance dependence among young people. This has left practitioners concerned that their practice may not accord with the developing evidence base. This guidance document describes good practice on the best ways to manage a clinically complex condition.
Guidance Guidance for the pharmacological management of substance misuse among young people in secure environments (2nd October 2009)Until now there has been no formal guidance to help clinicians to manage substance dependence among young people. This has left practitioners concerned that their practice may not accord with the developing evidence base. This guidance document describes good practice on the best ways to manage a clinically complex condition.
Guidance
EMBRACE - Resources Supplement 5 (22nd September 2009)This supplement, from Alcohol Concern, contains 6 pages of resources (including links to obtain them) that people working within alcohol and substance misuse may find useful.
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Seeing double: meeting the challenge of dual diagnosis (24th September 2009)Dual diagnosis is the term used to describe people who have concurrent mental health and substance misuse or alcohol problems. It affects a third of mental health service users, half of substance misuse service users and 70 per cent of prisoners.
This briefing identifies the key issues around dual diagnosis, explains existing policy and makes recommendations on what mental health providers and commissioners should be doing in this area.
Briefing
NHS Pay Review Body. Review for 2010. Information from the Health Departments relevant to the NHSPRB's consideration of the three year pay deal (25th September 2009)Written and statistical evidence from the Health Departments for the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland.Document Improving care, reducing cost. Helping the NHS meet its 21st Century challenge (September 2009)The debate about the future financing and organisation of the NHS is taking off once again, fuelled by the forthcoming general election, concern about the UK’s record budget deficit and worries about the quality of patient care. The use of management consultants by the NHS has been the focus of much attention, particularly in the wake of the recently leaked McKinsey report on how the NHS can reduce costs.
The Management Consultancies Association’s (MCA) report on management consulting and the NHS, Improving care, reducing cost, contains the first authoritative analysis of how much the NHS spends on management consultancy and the types of work that management consultants do. It is based on detailed research with MCA member companies, and contains a series of case studies. In addition to analysing the NHS’s spending on management consultancy, the MCA has asked its members to explain the work that they do with the NHS, why they think this work is valuable and how it fits with a future of healthcare that needs to deliver high quality care at a cost the UK taxpayer is able and willing to.
Report
ARTICLE - Early in-hospital mortality following trainee doctors' first day at work (23rd September 2009)People admitted to English hospitals in an emergency on the first Wednesday in August have, on average, a six percent higher mortality rate than people admitted on the previous Wednesday, according to research published in PLoS One today.HTML Full textPDF Full text
AACCE (non-opiate) substance use in the North West of England (10th June 2009)This report details the demographic profile, referral sources in, and the exit status upon leaving, of those individuals in contact with structured treatment stating non-opiate substance use, incorporating Alcohol Amphetamines, Cannabis, Cocaine and Ecstasy (AACCE). Analysis was conducted to compare this AACCE group to those in treatment who have entered due to opiate use to determine whether AACCE clients are a distinct group when compared to opiate users, who constitute the majority of those in structured drug treatment.
Report
All Party Parliamentary Group on Alcohol Misuse. The future of alcohol treatment services (May 2009)This inquiry report is the first to be published by the All Party Parliamentary Group on Alcohol Misuse. Some of the recommendations from the Group are:
- Government needs clear cross-deparmental leadership to tackle England's growing alcohol problem.
- All primary healthcare services should understand and be able to deliver Screening and Brief Interventions (SBI).
- All PCTs areas should have effective specialist alcohol services which are accessible to local communities
- There needs to be an ongoing training programme for alcohol commissioners
- The National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence (NICE) should look at how the Quality and Outcome Framework (QOF) for GPs can be amended to help tackle alcohol misuse.
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A guide for the management of dual diagnosis for prisons (9th April 2009)Dual diagnosis, the co-existence of mental health and substance misuse problems, has a higher prevlaence in prisons than in the general community. This document provides good practice guidance to commissioners and practitioners on the management of dual diagnosis within a prison setting.
Guidance
NDTMS Themed Report: AACCE Substance use in the Northwest of England (18th March 2009)Drug treatment services are currently dominated by individuals presenting for problems with heroin use. Whilst opiates are the most common drug of choice amongst those in treatment, there is evidence that non opiate AACCE (alcohol, amphetamines, cannabis, cocaine, ecstasy) use is becoming increasingly evident amongst younger treatment users. The National Drug Treatment Monitoring System (NDTMS) in the North West of England was used to analyse the demographic profile, referral sources in, and the exit status of, individuals in treatment stating AACCE substances to determine whether these clients were a distinct group when compared to opiate clients. Analysis of NDTMS revealed a growing distinct group of individuals who did not state opiates as a problematic drug. AACCE clients were significantly younger, referred via different referral routes and accessing different types of treatment to opiate clients.
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Getting to grips with substance misuse among young people. The data for 2007/08 (March 2009)Reliable statistics on young people under 18 who receive specialist support for drug and alcohol misuse have been scarce. To address this, the National Treatment Agency (NTA) started recording data in 2005/06. This report summarises the data for 2007/08, together with information about the different types of interventions and the context in which these young people misuse substances. This is thebaseline year for reporting this data. The NTA will continue to enhance the range and quality of this data in future years, in order to obtain a better understanding of drug and alcohol misuse among young people who access specialist substance misuse services. This in turn will help the NTA improve the support available to them.
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MDMA (Ecstasy): A review of its harms and classification under the misuse of drugs act 1971 (11th February 2009)The Advisory Council on the Misuse of Drugs (ACMD) considers that a review of MDMA would be timely given:
- there is a greater body of scientific evidence now available since the ACMD's last advice to Ministers
- the further information available on current use
- the length of time since the ACMD last provided advice to Ministers
Review
Cannabis reclassification and the associated penalties (26th January 2009)The government decided to reclassify cannabis from Class C to Class B because repeated cannabis use can have serious consequences for mental health.Information
Improving services for substance misuse - Diversity and inpatient and residential rehabilitation services (29th January 2009)
A report released today by the Healthcare Commission and the National Treatment Agency (NTA) shows how well local areas are meeting the needs of diverse communities and people who require inpatient or residential drug treatment.
The review covered each of the 149 local drug partnerships in England, where drug treatment is commissioned and managed by representatives from primary care trusts, local authorities, the police and the probation service.
Findings reveal widespread good practice with 15% of local drug partnerships rated as "excellent" and 72% "good" overall. Thirteen percent were rated "fair" and no partnerships had an overall score of "weak".
Document
Further information
Needs Assessment with Homeless Drug & Alcohol Users in Liverpool (7th August 2008)
An assessment of the health and social care and substance use treatment needs of homeless drug and alcohol users in Liverpool.
Click here for the Document
The 2007 user satisfaction survey of Tier 2 and 3 service users in England (June 2008)
The 2007 survey reveals some significant group differences in terms of satisfaction with drug treatment, although the vast majority of service users were generally satisfied with their drug treatment, viewed the treatment they received in positive terms and agreed that drug treatment had made a difference in their lives.
Click here for the Document
The 2007 user satisfaction survey of Tier 4 service users in England (June 2008)
The vast majority of respondents were generally satisfied with their treatment, viewed it in positive terms and agreed that it has had a positive impact on their lives.
Click her for the Document
Capital development programme for inpatient and residential rehabilitation substance misuse (drug and alcohol) services 2007/08 and 2008/09 - addendum guidance notes April 2008 (30th April 2008)
The addendum guidance sets out the process for assurance of the delivery of the capital development programme for inpatient and residential substance misuse (drug and alcohol) services 2007/08 and 2008/09, including guidance on the reallocation of funds. The National Treatment Agency (NTA) via Regional Forums is managing this process.
Click here for the Guidance
Service Review – Assessment Framework for Substance Misuse Services 2007/08 (February 2008)
The National Treatment Agency and the Healthcare Commission have released the assessment framework for the 2007/8 substance misuse service review on diversity and tier 4 services.
Click here for the Framework
