Local drug partnerships and rehab clinics 'must focus on aftercare'

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Home » News » Drugs » Local drug partnerships and rehab clinics 'must focus on aftercare'

by Change | 30 Jan 2009

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A review has found local drug partnerships are performing well, but must increase their focus on aftercare and preventing relapse.

More than two thirds of local drug partnerships do not monitor the number of former patients overdosing after leaving rehab clinics, a study reveals.

A report by the Healthcare Commission and National Treatment Agency (NTA) show a third do not ask community-based services to conduct risk assessments when people leave their rehab programme unexpectedly.

Its study found 72 per cent of these organisations have been described as "good", while 15 per cent were rated "excellent".

Anna Walker, chief executive of the Healthcare Commission, claims it is "particularly impressive" that none of these services were found to be "weak".

"This country is providing top quality treatment to more people with drug problems than ever before, and I hope to see this progress continue," she states.

She says these results have been produced from a series of reviews over three years and describes local drug partnerships as performing "extremely well".

Estimates by the NTA place the number of people using National Health Service and publicly-funded rehab clinics at 16,000.

Recent statistics published in Public Policy Research has found government-sponsored, centre-based treatment is less effective than substance addiction programmes which are street-focused.

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