Agenda item

-        Anne Charlesworth, Head of Alcohol and Drug Strategy, to present

Anne Charlesworth, Head of Alcohol and Drug Strategy, presented a report on the performance assurance processes/data and some of the actions that had been put into place to address the shortfall in performance paying particular emphasis to opiate exits.

The report had been considered by the Safer Rotherham Partnership/DAAT Board on 8^th January where it was agreed that the report be forwarded to the Health and Wellbeing Board to engage wider support for the improvement of the outcome.

Evidence suggested that people generally were not able to sustain positive outcomes from addiction without having gained or maintained recovery capital in other domains i.e. positive relationships, a sense of wellbeing, meaningful activity, education, training, employment, adequate housing etc.  There was a need to acknowledge that drug treatment providers could not deliver the ‘recovery’ agenda alone but needed involvement from partner agencies to support progress in a number of domains for individuals.  Research showed that where an individual had limited capital in a number of domains, overcoming severe drug or alcohol dependence or abstinence without progress in other recovery domains was rarely sustained.

Rotherham was not unlike the national picture in that it had an ageing drug treatment population (over 40s) many of which had been in treatment for some considerable time which made them harder to help and ‘recover’ leaving a significant challenge for local areas.

It was recognised that drug users relapsed and treatment systems needed to be designed to deal with the outcome.  Re-presentations to treatment were significant in terms of successful exits and Rotherham performed very well with current performance at 13.3%.  This equated to 6 users whom had previously exited successfully and then returned back to drug treatment within 6 months.  This would indicate that, despite successful exits being low, locally individuals were better prepared and stayed drug free for longer.

Discussion ensued on the report with the following issues raised:-

-          Rotherham had a large number of young people who experienced neglect, sometimes physical injuries, as a result of their parents’ mental health and substance abuse/domestic abuse

-          Elsewhere in the country the number of opiate users into treatment had dropped off - until the last 6 months Rotherham had seen a significant drop but still had above the average of new users coming into treatment – 370 within Primary Care, 200 within the criminal justice system and 300+ still long term prescribed for opiate dependency

-          The new targets would mean there would be pressure to get the individuals currently stable on methadone off the medication

-          There were children in Rotherham from the 11 plus age range who had experienced a range of drugs including opiates

-          The Government’s change of Policy would only work if sufficient levels of service and support were put into place

-          Currently GPs provided drug treatment but if a practice had a small number of patients, the increased frequency of reviewing and support may be hard for a practice to sustain and be at the expense of other patients

Resolved:-  (1)  That the Board’s support to build support for recovery initiatives which were seeking to improve the outcome be noted.

(2)  That the Board notes that the outcome could not be delivered by the existing systems alone as opiate users in treatment were part of the wider picture of social disadvantage in the Borough and the current opportunities for employment and housing were having some impact on the ability of the services to promote recovery as a positive option.

(3)  That a recognition that any perceived ‘quick fix’ type solutions to the Indicator were likely to have significant negative risks on both the individuals and the crime rate.