Interesting things you may have missedJuly 2015Andrew Brown

Number of current drug injectors admitted to first drug treatment, by country

“A total of 12,909 current drug injectors were admitted to first drug treatment in 2011, with the United Kingdom (34.8 %) accounting for the largest proportion of reported cases, followed by the Czech Republic (16.6 %), Italy (13.7 %), Greece (6.6 %), Spain (5.7 %) and Germany (5.0 %).”

Source: http://www.emcdda.europa.eu/publications/technical-reports/trends-in-injecting-drug-use

Age of first use

Source: http://www.emcdda.europa.eu/data/stats2015#displayTable:TDI-0197

Employment status of people with poor health status

“there seems to be a substantial labour market disadvantage for those reporting that they have poor alcohol/drug status. Those with poor alcohol/drug status have a 50 per cent lower employment incidence and a five-fold greater probability of being unemployed (21 per cent vs. 4.6 per cent).”

Source: http://www.jrf.org.uk/publications/does-poor-health-affect-employment-transitions?

Incidence of positive tests for blood borne viruses by setting

Source: https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/434951/HJ_report_11_6.pdf

What makes people with a severe mental illness more likely to be a victim of crime?

“We assessed nearly 30 demographic, socio-economic, social, developmental, behavioural and clinical factors that could be related to risk of victimisation among people with SMI, but only three were independently correlated with this outcome: service engagement, drug misuse and a history of being violent.”

Victim Support

Source: https://www.victimsupport.org.uk/sites/default/files/At%20risk%20full.pdf

When do people with substance use problems turn up at hospital in acute need?

“We found that access to, and the quality of, services after 5pm was not good enough. Commissioners and providers should make sure that they have the most appropriate services with the staff that have the right skills working at the times when people with mental health needs are more likely to access them.”

CQC - “Right here, right now – help, care and support during a mental

health crisis”Source: http://www.cqc.org.uk/sites/default/files/20150611_righthere_mhcrisiscare_full_3b.pdf

How substance use disorders contribute to mental health related crises being seen at A&E

Source: http://www.cqc.org.uk/sites/default/files/20150611_righthere_mhcrisiscare_full.pdf

Heroin in the UK

For every tonne of heroin that the National Crime Agency and other enforcement agencies seize between 4 and 5 tonnes are imported into the UK.

Tonnes of heroin seized in the first year of the NCA’s existence.

4.5

Estimated tonnes of heroin imported annually into the UK.

18 - 23Source: http://www.nationalcrimeagency.gov.uk/crime-threats/drugs

How might changing the law on drug possession and sale affect use

“Only a minority of GDS [Global Drug Survey] respondents (a group who are already interested in drug use) stated that they would increase their use. Our analysis suggests that these stated intentions are influenced by the leniency of the policy scenarios. Stated intentions to increase use tended to increase as the policy scenario became more lenient…

“It is also intriguing that many GDS respondents reported intentions to reduce alcohol use in response to more liberal drug policy scenarios. This suggests that any increases in harm from increased drug use might, according to these stated intentions, be offset by reductions in harms from alcohol use.”Source: http://bit.ly/1Sog9tj

Impact of Operation Pangea VIII (9-16 June 2015) in the UK

doses of falsified, counterfeit and unlicensed medicines seized*

6.2m

15.8 m

£worth a total of

* alm

ost tw

ice a

s m

uch

as la

st year

The UK operation also resulted in 1,380 websites being closed down

339 of which were domestic sites.

Source: http://bit.ly/opPangea

UK public service delivery using PbR

“If PbR can deliver the benefits its supporters claim – such as innovative solutions to intractable problems – then the increased cost and risk may be justified, but this requires credible evidence. Without such evidence, commissioners may be using PbR in circumstances to which it is ill-suited, with a consequent negative impact on value for money.”

National Audit Office“In the first year of the pilot ‘Payment by Results for Drugs Recovery’ scheme in England, linking payments to outcomes reduced the probability of completing drug misuse treatment and increased the proportion service users declining to continue with treatment.”

Mason et al. (2015) The impact of paying treatment providers for outcomes: difference-in-differences analysis of the ‘payment by results for drugs recovery’

pilot.

Sources:http://www.nao.org.uk/report/outcome-based-payment-schemes-governments-use-of-payment-by-results/ http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/add.12920/abstract

How good is your area at working with dual diagnosis?

The Hard Edges report suggested that three in every five people in treatment for substance use problems is also suffering from a diagnosed mental health problem.

PHE’s fingertips tool suggests that on average across England about one in five people in treatment are having concurrent contact with mental health services.

Source: http://fingertips.phe.org.uk/profile-group/mental-health/profile/drugsandmentalhealth

Why are people admitted to hospital when the cause is alcohol related

In 2013/14, there were an estimated 1,059,210 admissions related to alcohol consumption where an alcohol-related disease, injury or condition was the primary reason for hospital admission or a secondary diagnosis.

How the alcohol market changed last year

Source: http://www.thedrinksreport.com/news/2015/16101-uk-alcohol-market-returns-to-growth.html

“The WSTA’s Q2 2015 Market Report shows that the UK alcohol market has returned to growth following years of continuous decline. The report shows modest growth in off trade volumes and a slowing of the decline in the on trade, resulting in overall volume growth for the first time in five years.”