[update: see here for Statistics from the National Alcohol Treatment Monitoring System (NATMS) 1st April 2010 - 31st March 2011]
The second national report on alcohol treatment has been released by the National Treatment Agency (NTA):
'Statistics from the National Alcohol Treatment Monitoring System (NATMS) 1st April 2009 – 31st March 2010' [pdf]
Excerpts from the executive summary include:
- There were 111,381 clients in contact with structured treatment aged 18 and over who cited alcohol as their primary substance in 2009/10. This is an increase of 11,283 (11%) from 100,098 clients in the previous year.
- There were a further 31,733 clients who cited alcohol misuse as a secondary problem to other primary problematic substances.
- Clients’ median age at their first point of contact with treatment in 2009/10 was 41 and 65% of clients in treatment were male.
- Most clients were White British (97,089 or 88%), while other ethnic groups each accounted for no more than two percent of clients.
- Where reported, 26,662 (37%) were self referrals and 15,166 (21%) were referrals from GP’s. Onward referrals from other substance misuse services together accounted for 8,474 clients (12%).
- More than three quarters (54,242 or 79%) of all clients waited less than three weeks to commence treatment.
- The most common intervention type received was ‘structured psychosocial’ with 45% of clients receiving this in their latest journey (50,379 interventions).
- Where reported, one in twenty five clients (2,416 or 4%) had No Fixed Abode on presenting for treatment; a further 10% of clients (6,510) had other housing problems.
- Of the 63,632 clients exiting treatment in 2009/10; 30,533 (48%) were no longer dependent on alcohol and a further 4,640 (7%) were transferred for further treatment within the community
Also available is local level alcohol treatment data (register here for restricted access). The NATMS alcohol data is a subset of the NTA's NDTMS data sets on drug treatment. See the the NTA site here for further information and last year's national report.
In 2005 the Alcohol Needs Assessment Research Project (ANARP) was published but calls for further investment in alcohol treatment continue.
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