RAND Europe and partners at King’s College London National Addiction Centre, The University of Manchester and South London and Maudsley NHS Foundation Trust have been awarded funding through the National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR205228) to conduct an independent evaluation of the first three years of the UK Government’s Drug Strategy investment in Treatment And Recovery (D-SITAR). More information about the research team is available here.
What are we doing?
As part of the Treatment and Recovery portfolio, Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC) and the Office for Health Improvement and Disparities (OHID) are providing money to local authorities to improve treatment and recovery services for people who use drugs and alcohol. Our research will look at how this money has been used so far.
Why is it important?
Local authorities have a list of services and activities they can spend the new money on. The list includes more treatment places, more people who provide treatment and support to people, residential recovery places, and hospital-based support for people who need help with their drug or alcohol use. This research will help DHSC and OHID find out whether these activities do or do not help people. DHSC, OHID and local authorities will use this information to decide on how best to use the money in future.
How will we find out what is working?
We will look at what is happening during the early stages of the Treatment and Recovery portfolio and break the work into six parts. One part will look at how it is being delivered overall. The other parts will look at different types of treatment or support within the portfolio:
- Support for accessing housing
- Training for people who provide treatment and recovery support
- Lived experience recovery support services
- Collaboration between mental and physical health services
- Treatment of opioid dependence with a medication called depot buprenorphine
We will work with different local authorities and talk to people involved, including those receiving and providing the help, and use information that is already available such as treatment records. We will look in detail at how different types of treatment and support are provided, and whether this is helping everyone equally.
We will also be analysing quantitative data to understand the value for money that has been achieved through the treatment and recovery portfolio, and the impact that the portfolio has had.
Who is helping us?
In this research we will have many people involved such as members of the public, charities, people who provide and use treatment and recovery services, the family and friends of people in treatment and recovery, and people whose job it is to deliver the Treatment and Recovery portfolio. We call these people stakeholders. They will help us make sure the research is relevant, helpful and impactful.
How will we share what we’ve learned?
We will work with our stakeholders to share we learn with as many people as possible. We will share our learnings using reports, posters, leaflets, blogs, and podcasts and videos.