Today sees the publication of Public Health Scotland’s national drug and alcohol treatment waiting times report, summary report and Drug and Alcohol Waiting Times dashboard.
Data extracted from DAISy systems, shows that NHS Lanarkshire has been meeting the Scottish Government Standard that 90% of people referred for help with problematic drug or alcohol use wait no longer than three weeks for specialist treatment.
Main points
During the quarter ending 31 December 2023, across Scotland:
- 10,534 referrals were made to community-based specialist drug and alcohol treatment services: 5,239 (49.7%) were for problematic use of alcohol, 3,885 (36.9%) for problematic use of drugs, and 1,410 (13.4%) for co-dependency.
- 7,316 referrals to community-based services started treatment. Of these, 90.5% involved a wait of three weeks or less. Five NHS Boards did not meet the Standard (Highland, 89.8%; Lothian, 86.2%; Fife, 83.4%, Orkney, 83.3%; Forth Valley, 59.7%).
- Nationally, the Standard was met for referrals to community-based services starting treatment for the problematic use of drugs (91.8%) and co-dependency (91.7%). The Standard was not met for those starting treatment for alcohol (89.3%).
- 824 referrals were made to prison-based services. Of these, 674 (81.8%) were for people seeking help for problematic use of drugs.
- 356 referrals to prison-based services started treatment. Of these, 92.1% involved a wait of three weeks or less (co-dependency, 100.0%; drugs, 90.6%; alcohol, 84.6%).
To find out more, access reports or see the Drug and Alcohol Waiting Times dashboard.
