Commissioning quality standard for drug and alcohol treatment
Today (10 August 2022), the OHID has published a national adult drug and alcohol treatment commissioning quality standard. The standard was one of the key recommendations of the second part of Dame Carol Black’s review of drugs, agreed by government and trailed in the drug strategy.
ERSA was pleased to be involved with this work, sitting on an Expert Advisory Group to help inform the quality standard. There was also an open consultation which took place last year with many contributions from ERSA members.
The standard provide guidance for local authorities to support them in commissioning effective alcohol and drug treatment and recovery services in their areas. It helps local partnerships to:
- clarify the commissioning process they should follow
- plan and deliver harm reduction, treatment and recovery interventions
- understand local need for alcohol and drug services
- assess whether anyone affected by problem alcohol and drug use is able to access the right support at the right time
- provide high-quality support from a multi-disciplinary skilled workforce for children, young people and adults affected by problem alcohol and drug use
Alongside the standard, there is a self-assessment tool to help local partnerships to measure their progress to meet the standards. They can use this to make notes about their progress and score themselves to see how close they are to meeting the standards.
Local partnerships should use the CQS guidance and self-assessment tool alongside other products that support the implementation of the government’s drug strategy.
The standard sets high level ambitions for commissioning and will be supported in the coming months and years by more detailed products to support effective commissioning of drug and alcohol treatment.
Further information:
The press release can be found on gov.uk here.
