Main treatment priorities in the national drug strategy
The UK Drug Strategy, Reducing demand, restricting supply, building recovery: supporting people to live a drug free life (Her Majesty’s Government, 2010) emphasises supporting those who are drug dependent to achieve recovery, and the provision of the integrated support necessary to enable this (see section 1.2.1).
The ‘building recovery’ strand of the strategy includes a number of objectives relating to treatment.
These include:
• ensuring that all those on a substitute prescription engage in recovery activities;
• supporting services to work with individuals to draw on a client’s “recovery capital”;
69 Formerly the National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence.
70 A drug that blocks the effects of opioids and alcohol.
• commissioning drug treatment and recovery services which are locally led, transparent about performance and delivered in line with best practice;
• launching Public Health England (PHE) whose role is to support local authorities (LAs) on commissioning services most suitable for their area and population;
• encouraging local areas to jointly commission services to deliver “end to end” support;
• enabling people to successfully reintegrate into their communities following treatment by tackling housing needs and helping them find sustained employment; and
• launching six Payment by Results (PbR) pilots to investigate affordability and value for money in drugs recovery for adults
Progress has been made towards each of these objectives and new priorities were cited in the 2015 annual review of the drug strategy. These include:
• evaluation of the PbR pilots;
• amend medicines regulations to allow for the wider distribution of naloxone (see section 2.2.1); and
• implement a new drug appointment licence condition that can require prisoners to attend appointments at treatment services in the community upon release (see section 8.7.3)
Public Health Outcomes Framework England
The Public Health Outcomes Framework (PHOF)71 (Department of Health, 2012) sets out the Secretary of State’s strategic direction in meeting two high level objectives:
• to increase healthy life expectancy; and
• to reduce differences in life expectancy and healthy life expectancy between communities
This includes indicators which are explicitly related to drugs; the main one being successful completion of treatment for opioid and non-opioid users who do not return within six months.
Scotland
The concept of recovery and supporting people to live a drug-free life as active and engaged members of society is central to the Scottish Government’s drug strategy, The Road to Recovery: A new approach to tackling Scotland’s drug problem (Scottish Government, 2008c) (see section 1.2.1).
The key treatment-related priorities of the strategy are:
• to see more people recover from problem drug use so that they can live longer, healthier lives, realising their potential and making a positive contribution to society and the economy; and
• improving the effectiveness of delivery at a national and local level
The Scottish Government has developed a Recovery Outcomes Web (ROW) tool for use by local services to record and monitor people affected by problem drug and alcohol use. This is an independently validated, peer-reviewed tool which has been developed through consultation with Alcohol and Drug Partnerships (ADPs), drug and alcohol frontline staff, managers, service users and research groups.
71 See: http://www.phoutcomes.info/
The key aim of the tool is to measure changes in a person’s life as a result of an intervention received when they access specialist support from drug and/or alcohol services in Scotland. This tool will help to provide a better understanding of an individual’s recovery journey, related needs and motivation for change. Secondary benefits of the outcomes measurement tool are to inform workforce development, service improvement and future service provision for managers, ADPs, funding bodies and the Scottish Government. The ROW tool will be built into Scotland’s new integrated Drug and Alcohol Information System (DAISy) which is expected to go live in autumn 2016.
Wales
The Welsh Government’s drug strategy, Working together to reduce harms 2008-2018 (Welsh Assembly Government, 2008a) predominantly focuses on reducing the harms associated with substance misuse (see section 1.2.1). Their treatment-related objectives include:
• improving the availability of treatment services and related support;
• making better use of resources — utilising evidence based decision making, improving treatment outcomes and developing the skills of those working in the treatment sector and promoting joined up working across agencies; and
• developing user-focused services
The strategy has been accompanied by shorter term implementation plans which outline performance measures for each of the key action areas, including supporting substance misusers to improve their health and to aid and maintain recovery.
A Recovery Framework was launched in February 2014,72 which is supported by the Recovery Group for Wales. Two courses have been designed by partner organisations in the Recovery Group for Wales to facilitate this process, namely: Embracing Recovery and Recovery Framework: Theory to Practice.
The main priority of the Recovery Group for Wales is to ensure the principles of the framework are embedded throughout Wales. Establishing recovery-oriented systems of care; peer-led recovery community support; and implementing best practice across Wales continue to be prioritised.
Northern Ireland
The current Northern Ireland (NI) strategy, New Strategic Direction for Alcohol and Drugs (NSD) Phase 2, 2011-2016 (Department of Health Social Services and Public Safety Northern Ireland, 2011b) has a number of treatment-related priorities including:
• developing a regional commissioning framework for treatment;
• targeting those at risk and vulnerable; and
• workforce development 5.2.2 Quality Standards The Care Quality Commission
The Care Quality Commission (CQC) is an independent body charged with monitoring, inspecting and regulating health and social care services in England. In July 2015 the CQC launched an inspection handbook for service providers.73 This was developed after a series of pilots conducted in early 2015 and details how inspections will be planned and arranged, what evidence will be gathered and through what means, and how services will be judged and rated, as well as the potential outcomes, including the consequences and enforcements for those rated ‘requires improvement’ or ‘inadequate’.
72 See: http://gov.wales/topics/people-and-communities/communities/safety/substancemisuse/policy/
treatmentframework/?lang=en
73 See: http://www.cqc.org.uk/content/provider-handbooks?page=1
Scotland
Local Delivery Plans
The Local Delivery Plan (LDP) Standard (formerly Health Improvement, Efficiency and Access Treatment (HEAT) Standard) for drug and alcohol treatment waiting times expects that 90% of people receive access to appropriate drug and/or alcohol treatment within three weeks of referral to support their recovery (Information Services Division, 2015a). Getting people into treatment quickly for drug-related problems is a priority for the Scottish Government, as evidence suggests this is likely to result in improved client outcomes. The HEAT Standard was initially introduced as a target and had been exceeded by March 2013. It then became a HEAT Standard for 2013/14 and beyond.
Data is published on a quarterly basis at national, Health Board and ADP level. The most recent statistics, published in June 2015, indicate that in January – March 2015, 95% of the 11,114 people who started their first drug or alcohol treatment waited three weeks or less (LDP Standard) (Scottish Government, 2015a). This ambitious Standard therefore continues to be exceeded at national level.
For drug treatment, 94.1% of the 4,136 people who attended an appointment for drug treatment between January and March 2015 waited three weeks or less, a slight increase from 93.7% in the previous quarter.
For alcohol treatment, 95.5% of the 6,978 people who started alcohol treatment between January and March 2015 waited three weeks or less, a slight decrease from 95.7% in the previous quarter.
5.2.3 Guidelines for treatment
In September 2007 the Drug Misuse and Dependence: UK Guidelines on Clinical Management (Department of Health England and the devolved administrations, 2007) were published, to be used as a guide by all clinicians working in drug misuse treatment, particularly those providing pharmacological interventions.
The guidelines include the following key principles underlying appropriate care of drug misusers:
• drug misusers have the same entitlement as other patients to the services provided by the National Health Service (NHS);
• the General Medical Council’s statement that: “The investigations or treatment you provide or arrange must be based on the assessment you and the patient make of their needs and priorities, and on your clinical judgement about the likely effectiveness of the treatment options. You must not refuse or delay treatment because you believe that a patient’s actions have contributed to their condition. You must treat your patients with respect whatever their life choices and beliefs”;
• it is the responsibility of general practitioners to provide general medical services for drug misusers.
Health Authorities, Primary Care Trusts in England, local health boards in Wales and health boards in NI and Scotland all have a duty to provide treatment for drug misusers, to meet local population needs.
This should include interventions to reduce drug-related harm, such as hepatitis B vaccinations and needle exchange provision, together with evidence-based drug treatment;
• every doctor must provide medical care to a standard which could reasonably be expected of a clinician in his or her position. An increasing number of clinicians are trained and supported to provide drug treatment under the terms of a contract negotiated with their local commissioners; and
• the focus for the clinician treating a drug misuser is on patients themselves. However, the impact of their drug misuse on other individuals and on communities should be taken into consideration.
In 2014 PHE, on behalf of the departments of health in England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland, held a consultation regarding whether these guidelines could benefit from being updated, despite much
of the content remaining current.74 The majority of responses received to the consultation, through focus groups and in writing, were in favour of an update, and consequently a review of the evidence is currently being conducted. Updated guidelines are expected to be published in early 2016.
NICE have produced a range of guidelines, technical appraisals and pathways relating to best practice and standards of care in the treatment of substance misuse. Interventional procedures apply to all countries of the UK. Clinical guidelines and technology appraisals apply to those using the NHS in England and Wales only and are usually disseminated after local review in Northern Ireland. Public health guidance applies to those using the NHS in England only and is often disseminated after local review in other UK countries.75 The key NICE guidelines76 relating to substance misuse treatment are:
• CG51 (2007) Drug misuse — psychosocial interventions (National Institute for Health and Care Excellence, 2007b);
• CG52 (2007) Drug misuse — opioid detoxification (National Institute for Health and Care Excellence, 2007a);
• CG120 (2011) Psychosis with coexisting substance misuse: Assessment and management in adults and young people (National Institute for Health and Care Excellence, 2011);
• PH4 (2007): Interventions to reduce substance misuse among vulnerable young people (National Institute for Health and Care Excellence, 2007c);
• PH52 (2014): Needles and syringe programmes (National Institute for Health and Care Excellence, 2014b);
• PH49 (2014) Behaviour change: individual approaches (National Institute for Health and Care Excellence, 2014a);
• QS23 (2012) Drug use disorders (National Institute for Health and Care Excellence, 2012); and
• TA114 (2007) Methadone and buprenorphine for the management of opioid dependence (National Institute for Health and Care Excellence, 2007d)
Turning Evidence into Practice
Throughout 2014 and 2015 PHE has issued a series of briefings entitled Turning Evidence into Practice,77 which provide advice to commissioners and services on a range of topics including:
• helping service users to access and engage with mutual aid;
• helping service users to engage with treatment and stay the course;
• biological testing in drug and alcohol treatment;
• optimising OST;
• preventing drug-related deaths;
• improving hepatitis C treatment; and
• image and performance enhancing drugs
74 See: https://www.gov.uk/government/consultations/drug-misuse-and-dependence-uk-guidelines-on-clinical-management
75 See: https://www.nice.org.uk/about/what-we-do
76 See: www.nice.org.uk
77 See: http://www.nta.nhs.uk/2015.aspx
All of these briefings are drawn from published evidence, guidance and expert consensus and provide both an overview of the topic as well as prompts for commissioning effective services.
Project NEPTUNE
The Novel Psychoactive Treatment UK Network (NEPTUNE),78 an independent charity funded by the Health Foundation, conducted a systematic review of the evidence on club drugs,79 focusing particularly on their acute and long-term harms and convened a group of UK experts to provide clinical consensus on their treatment. This evidence was then used to develop Guidance on the clinical management of acute and chronic harms of club drugs and novel psychoactive substances (Abdulrahim & Bowden-Jones, 2015), which was published in March 2015.80
The guidance is aimed specifically at clinicians in specialist drug treatment services, hospital emergency departments, general practice/primary care and sexual health clinics. It is designed to increase the confidence and skills of clinicians in the detection and identification of club drugs and new psychoactive substances (NPS).
New psychoactive substances toolkit
In November 2014, PHE published a toolkit81 to help LAs and NHS England respond to NPS use and associated problems in their area. The toolkit provided advice, resources and points for consideration across multiple factors including tackling supply and use, prevention, NPS interventions and treatment, NPS in prisons and competence in working with NPS users.
5.2.4 Evaluations and reviews
Advisory Council on the Misuse of Drugs review of opioid substitution therapy
In 2014 the Inter-Ministerial Group on Drugs commissioned the Advisory Council on the Misuse of Drugs (ACMD) to investigate:
• whether or not evidence supported the case for time limiting OST;
• if so what would a suitable time period be and what would be the risks and the benefits; and
• if time limiting OST is not supported, how can OST be optimised to maximise recovery outcomes for service users
The ACMD produced two reports in response to the commission. The first, published in November 2014 (Advisory Council on the Misuse of Drugs, 2015a), concluded that time limiting OST could result in:
• the majority of clients relapsing in to heroin use; and
• significant unintended consequences such as increases in drug-driven crime, heroin overdose deaths and spread of blood-borne viruses (BBVs)
It is also possible that such a restriction could be subject to medico-legal challenges.
The second paper, published in October 2015, made six recommendations for how OST can be optimised. These are:
78 See: http://neptune-clinical-guidance.co.uk/
79 The term ‘club drugs’ is used here to refer to a group of psychoactive substances typically used in dance venues, house parties, music festivals and sometimes in a sexual context
80 See: http://neptune-clinical-guidance.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2015/03/NEPTUNE-Guidance-March-2015.pdf
81 See: http://www.nta.nhs.uk/uploads/nps-a-toolkit-for-substance-misuse-commissioners.pdf
• the Government and LAs should protect the investment in recovery-oriented drug treatment and recovery systems;
• LAs should strive for a culture of stability and quality improvement in drug treatment;
• the Government should implement a national quality improvement programme for recovery-oriented OST and ensure implementation of evidence-based practice;
• LAs should ensure all local drug treatment and recovery systems have enough community and residential abstinence pathways and ongoing recovery support;
• discrimination and stigmatising of those in medication assisted recovery should be tackled at all levels; and
• further research should be undertaken to build the UK research evidence on recovery-oriented treatment and interventions for heroin users
5.3 Organisation and provision of drug treatment