Drug Treatment Waiting Times

Page last updated: 26-JUL-2010

Drug Treatment Waiting Times

Statistical Publication Notice

15 December 2009

Drug Treatment Waiting Times Information Framework Report July-Sept 2009.

INTRODUCTION

This publication presents data from the Drug Treatment Waiting Times Information Framework. It includes details on the number of clients waiting and the time waited for (1) clients to be offered an assessment date, (2) clients to be offered an appointment date for their first intervention and (3) clients to be offered an appointment date for specific interventions (namely: structured preparatory & motivational intervention, prescribed drug treatment, community based support/ rehabilitation and residential rehabilitation).
 
On 13th November, a national HEAT (Health improvement, Efficiency, Access, Treatment) target was announced that by March 2013, 90% of people who need help with their drug problem will wait no longer than three weeks for treatment. As a first step to this target it is expected that by December 2010, 90% of clients will be offered an assessment date that falls within 4 weeks of the referral date and 90% of clients will be offered a treatment date that falls within 4 weeks of the assessment date.
 
Since 2004, drug treatment services have routinely collected data on waiting times. The data is submitted to local teams, formerly Alcohol and Drug Action Team (ADATs), now Alcohol and Drug Partnerships (ADPs), who are responsible for assuring data quality; these teams feed the data into local databases, which generate summary reports each quarter. The summary reports are then sent to ISD, where they are collated, aggregated, and then published on the ISD drugs misuse website.
 
Operational structures have changed since October 2009, when the 22 ADATs were dissolved and replaced by 30 ADPs, the majority of which are at local authority level, rather than NHS Board level. The Waiting Times Framework was designed to function at ADAT level and will continue to report on an ADAT-based geography until April 2011, when a new data collection system will be in place, facilitating reporting at ADP level.
 
In June 2009 ISD revised the format of the publication on drug treatment waiting times, this is the third report published in this new format. The revisions were made in order to improve the clarity of the information presented and to mirror as closely as possible other ISD waiting times publications. A document summarising the changes is accessible via the ISD drugs misuse website.

KEY POINTS

Time from referral to assessment date offered
  • In Jul-Sep 2009, over 85% of those offered an appointment for assessment were offered a date which fell within the reporting period and was within 4 weeks of referral (Table 1).
  • Whilst just over 70% of those offered an appointment for assessment were offered a date which fell within the reporting period, July-Sep 2009, and was within 14 days of referral (Table 1).
  • Of those who were still waiting for an appointment for assessment, approximately 7% had waited more than 52 weeks by the end of Sep 2009 (Table 2).
Time waited for first intervention
  • In Jul-Sep 2009, just under 95% of those offered an appointment for treatment were offered a date within 4 weeks of the date a care plan was agreed (Table 3).
  • Whilst just under 90% of those offered an appointment for treatment which fell within the reporting period, July-Sep 2009, were offered a date within 14 days of the date a care plan was agreed (Table 3).
  • Of those who were still waiting for a treatment appointment at the end of the reporting period, approximately 8% had waited more than 52 weeks by the end of Sep 2009 (Table 4).

INTERPRETATION

It is important to be aware that there are some data quality issues that may impact on analysis - caution is therefore recommended when interpreting tables.

ISD collect information on clients waiting and time waited for (1) clients to be offered an assessment date, (2) clients to be offered an appointment date for their first intervention and (3) clients to be offered an appointment date for specific interventions (namely: structured preparatory & motivational intervention, prescribed drug treatment, community based support/ rehabilitation and residential rehabilitation). Figures for individual interventions will not add up to the figures for first intervention as figures for individual interventions include both first and second treatment. Figures for first intervention may also appear greater than the sum of specific interventions due to ongoing data quality issues. ISD is working with ADATs to improve data quality, which will resolve this issue.

The numbers of services submitting data varies significantly from area to area and within areas across the data collection period (see Table 13). Consequently, to compare data across ADATs and data collection periods is potentially inappropriate.

It should be noted that there is a wide range of demand for substance misuse services across Scotland, and to meet this demand, a variable set of practices across the country. In some ADAT areas, the impact of a single specialised service ? for example, a crisis management centre ? may dramatically alter the distribution of waiting times.

ISD receives aggregate data from each of the ADATs and it is therefore not possible for us to validate fully the data. ISD has been working with ADATs to improve data quality prior to the introduction of the new Scottish Government HEAT target in April 2010.

The tables include small numbers for some ADATs; caution is therefore recommended when interpreting differences in percentages.

DETAILED FINDINGS

Time from referral to assessment date offered:

Offered an assessment date (Table 1):

  • In Jul-Sep 2009, over 85% of those offered an appointment for assessment were offered a date which fell within the reporting period and was within 4 weeks of referral.
  • Between Jul-Sep 2009 there were 11 ADAT areas (Angus, Argyll & Bute, Ayrshire & Arran, Dumfries & Galloway, Fife§, Forth Valley, Glasgow City, Greater Glasgow & Clyde§, Lanarkshire§, Shetland, Western Isles) where 90% or more clients were offered an appointment date for assessment within 4 weeks of referral.
  • Whilst just over 70% of those offered an appointment for assessment were offered a date which fell within the reporting period, July-Sep 2009, and which was within 14 days of referral.
  • Between Jul-Sep 2009 there were 8 ADAT areas (Angus, Argyll & Bute, Dumfries & Galloway, Fife§, Forth Valley, Glasgow City, Greater Glasgow & Clyde§, Lanarkshire§) where over 80% of clients were offered an appointment date for assessment within 14 days of referral.

Still waiting for an assessment date to be offered (Table 2):

  • Of those who were still waiting for an appointment for assessment, approximately 7% had waited more than 52 weeks by the end of Sep 2009.
  • In Aberdeenshire and Ayrshire & Arran over 30% of clients who were still waiting for an assessment appointment at the end of Sep 2009 had waited more than 26 weeks.

Time waited for first intervention

Offered an appointment date (Table 3):

  • In Jul-Sep 2009, just under 95% of those offered an appointment for treatment were offered a date within 4 weeks of the date a care plan was agreed.
  • Between Jul-Sep 2009 there were 16 ADAT areas (Aberdeen City, Angus, Argyll & Bute, Ayrshire & Arran, Borders, Dumfries & Galloway, Dundee City, Edinburgh City, Glasgow City, Greater Glasgow & Clyde§, Highland§, Lanarkshire§, Moray, Orkney, Perth & Kinross and Western Isles) where 90% or more clients were offered a treatment apppointment within 4 weeks of the date a care plan was agreed.
  • Whilst just under 90% of those offered an appointment for treatment were offered a date which fell within the reporting period, July-Sep 2009, and which was within 14 days of the date a care plan was agreed.
  • Between Jul-Sep 2009 there were 11 ADAT areas (Angus, Argyll & Bute, Ayrshire & Arran, Borders, Dumfries & Galloway, Edinburgh City, Glasgow City, Lanarkshire§, Orkney, Perth & Kinross and Western Isles) where 90% or more clients were offered a treatment apppointment within 14 days of the date a care plan was agreed.

Still waiting for an appointment date to be offered (Table 4):

  • Of those who were still waiting for an appointment for first treatment, approximately 8% had waited more than 52 weeks by the end of Sep 2009.
  • In East Lothian and Midlothian over 40% of clients who were still waiting for an appointment at the end of Sep 2009 had waited for more than 26 weeks.

Time waited for structured preparatory intervention

Offered an appointment date (Table 5):

  • In Jul-Sep 2009, just over 90% of those offered an appointment for structured preparatory treatment were offered a date which fell within the reporting period and was within 14 days of the date a care plan was agreed/ date client was ready for second treatment.

Still waiting for an assessment date to be offered (Table 6):

  • Of those who were still waiting for an appointment for structured preparatory treatment, almost 12% had waited more than 26 weeks by the end of Sep 2009.
  • Approximately 50% of those still waiting to be offered an appointment had waited 14 days or less by the end of Sep 2009.

Time waited for prescribed drug treatment:

Offered an appointment date (Table 7):

  • In Jul-Sep 2009, 80% of those offered an appointment for prescribed drug treatment were offered a date which fell within the reporting period and was within 14 days of the date a care plan was agreed/ date client was ready for second treatment.

Still waiting for an appointment date to be offered (Table 8):

  • Of those who were still waiting for an appointment for prescribed drug treatment, approximately 2% had waited more than 52 weeks by the end of Sep 2009.
  • Approximately 35% of those still waiting to be offered an appointment had waited 14 days or less by the end of Sep 2009.

Time waited for community based support:

Offered an appointment date (Table 9):

  • In Jul-Sep 2009, 88% of those offered an appointment for community based support were offered a date which fell within the reporting period and was within 14 days of the date a care plan was agreed/ date client was ready for second treatment.

Still waiting for an appointment date to be offered (Table 10):

  • Of those who were still waiting for an appointment for community based support, approximately 17% had waited more than 52 weeks by the end of Sep 2009.
  • Approximately 23% of those still waiting to be offered an appointment had waited 14 days or less by the end of Sep 2009.

Time waited for residential rehabilitation:

Offered an appointment date (Table 11):

  • In Jul-Sep 2009, approximately 85% of those offered an appointment for residential rehabilitation were offered a date which fell within the reporting period and was within 14 days of the date a care plan was agreed/ date client was ready for second treatment.

Still waiting for an appointment date to be offered (Table 12):

  • Of those who were still waiting for an appointment for residential rehabilitation, nobody had waited more than 26 weeks by the end of Sep 2009.
  • Thirty percent of those still waiting to be offered an appointment had waited 14 days or less by the end of Sep 2009.

§ Based on partial data submissions.

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MAIN CONTACTS:

Robyn Munro
Information Analyst
0131 275 6967
robyn.munro@nhs.net

Adrian Hyndman
Database Manager
0141 282 2275
adrian.hyndman@nhs.net

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GLOSSARY:

The interventions include:

  1. structured preparatory & motivation intervention  - planned intervention that stabilises the client or prepares them for further interventions.  It must be structured and have agreed goal(s).
  2. prescribed drug treatment -  the prescribing of a substitute drug, (e.g. methadone, lofexidine, subutex) for facilitating the complete cessation of the use of illicit drugs, controlling withdrawal symptoms or reducing illicit drug use.
  3. community support/rehabilitation -  Interventions that have the purpose of tackling the social and psychological problems faced by the client (such as debt / benefit / relationship and family problems, relapse prevention or employability and training issues) e.g. structured day programmes, counselling, group work.
  4. residential detoxification/rehabilitation - detoxification and/or rehabilitation that involves the client being admitted to a residential facility or hospital.
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PRE-RELEASE ACCESS:

Under terms of the "Pre-Release Access to Official Statistics (Scotland) Order 2008", ISD are obliged to publish information on those receiving Pre-Release Access ("Pre-Release Access" refers to statistics in their final form prior to publication). The standard maximum Pre-Release Access is five working days. Shown below are details of those receiving standard Pre-Release Access and, separately, those receiving extended Pre-Release Access.
 
Standard (five day) Pre-Release Access:
Scottish Government Health Department (Analytical Services Division)
Scottish Government Justice Department (Analytical Services Division)
NHS Board Chief Executives
NHS Board Communication leads
Alcohol and Drug Action Team coordinators
 
Extended Pre-Release Access:
Scottish Government Health Department (Analytical Services Division)
Scottish Government Justice Department (Analytical Services Division)
This extended Pre-Release Access is given to a small number of named individuals in the Scottish Government Health Department (Analytical Services Division). This Pre-Release Access is for the sole purpose of enabling that department to gain an understanding of the statistics prior to briefing others in Scottish Government (during the period of standard Pre-Release Access).
 
 
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HISTORY OF THIS PUBLICATION:

Last Published: 29 September 2009
Next Due: 30 March 2010
Data Available Since: April-September 2004

 


Main contact: Email Robyn Munro