Substance misuse treatment frameworks – Wales
The implementation of a Substance Misuse Treatment Framework for Wales is a strategic policy commitment of the Welsh Assembly Government. It reflects the vision contained in Wales: A Better Country The Strategic Agenda of the Welsh Assembly Government of a sustainable future for Wales where action for social, economic and environmental improvement work together to create positive change.
That vision recognises the need to support people to live healthy and independent lives. In taking forward this vision in the second Assembly term improving health is one of four key areas and one of the top ten commitments of Welsh assembly Government relates to delivering effective substance misuse treatment services
A key strategic aim of the Welsh substance misuse strategy is to increase the participation of problem substance misusers in substance misuse treatment programmes, which have a positive impact on health and their inclusion in society and in the case of offenders, programmes which have a positive impact on their offending. Mrs Edwina Hart AM MBE Minister for Social Justice and Regeneration has allocated additional funding to increase the capacity of treatment services across Wales. Improving the availability of, and access to, treatment services remains a priority in Wales.
In September 2003 a Project Board was established to produce the Framework. The Director of the Community Safety Unit chairs the Board and its membership consists of Welsh Assembly Government officials, members of the Advisory Panel on Substance Misuse and a representative of the National Public Health Service for Wales Vulnerable Adults Team.
The individual components of the Framework are being developed by specialist sub groups whose membership is drawn from across Wales and reflects the diverse professions and organisations that make up the substance misuse treatment community in Wales.
The complete Substance Misuse Treatment Framework for Wales will reflect professional consensus on ‘what works best’ for substance misusers and its development has been informed by Models of Care for the treatment of drug misusers developed by the National Treatment Agency for Substance Misuse in England. The complete Framework will contain the range of substance misuse treatment services identified in the Models of Care four tiers that should be available to substance misusers within Wales.
Each component will have associated Performance Standards to be published separately. The Minister for Social Justice and Regeneration has agreed that the Board completes the Framework in stages and that individual components will be rolled out on their completion.
The Substance Misuse Treatment Framework for Wales is intended to:
•Set out a national pattern for the commissioning of treatment for substance misuse which will meet the needs of diverse local populations. It will also assist in identifying gaps in services and help inform commissioning decisions in order to fill those gaps
•Support equity, parity and consistency in the commissioning and provision of substance misuse treatment and care in Wales
•Support responsible authorities and their partners, commissioners and treatment providers in advocating the provision of effective, evidence based treatment and care for substance misusers
•Assist in identifying the links between services, thus enabling the
development of integrated care systems
•Identify key interventions for a defined service or care group
•Identify details of the expected level of provision
•Improve the quality of services provided and decrease variations in
services provided
•Assist in ensuring that the pattern of service provision is based on assessed need
•Enable a contract for service, to incorporate a service specification that details the expected level and quality of service delivered.
•Aid in developing responses to the increase in substance misuse, for example the growth of substance misuse problems amongst young people and changing patterns of misuse and the substances misused and promote the development of services to hard to reach groups based on language and/or lifestyle
•Assist in identifying priorities for development e.g. specialist GPs and shared care schemes where they do not exist, and strengthening and expanding where they do
•Be a template against which the Welsh Assembly Government can undertake monitoring, audit and evaluation
•Improve service audit by assisting in the development and implementation of minimum standards and indicators for waiting/response times and level of provision.
The Substance Misuse Treatment Framework for Wales will assist Community Safety Partnerships in coordinating the delivery of the Welsh substance misuse strategy and support Responsible Authorities and other partners in developing high quality needs based services.
