A new guidance document for commissioning drug and alcohol services has been released by the Joint Commissioning Panel for Mental Health (JCPMH).
Guidance for commissioners of drug and alcohol services [pdf] presents an overview of key considerations for those with local remits for developing treatment services. It highlights ten key messages ranging from the invest to save case, utilisting NICE guidance, commissioning for outcomes, building partnerships and workforce development.
A wide range of guidance and resources now exists to support drug and alcohol commissioning. NICE has a comprehensive set of alcohol guidance and quality standards, including alcohol pathways and further tools. NICE also recently released Public Health Guidance for local authorities.
Previous to the NICE resources, alcohol commissioning guidance was released by the Department of Health in 2009, titled 'Signs for Improvement'. It identified a number of 'High Impact Changes', including IBA, alcohol liaison roles and improving treatment effectiveness and capacity. Models of Care for Alcohol Misusers was released by the then National Treatment Agency in 2006.
The NTA also published a range of other commissioning resources including 'commissioning for recovery', a JSNA support pack and annual alcohol treatment statistics reports.
This year DrugScope released a briefing on 'Public Health Reforms: What they mean for drug and alcohol services'. A recent RCGP briefing explores Primary Care Drug and Alcohol Commissioning.
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