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Drug misusers face numerous problems accessing treatment services and getting the help they need, a new report by the Audit Commission claims, writes Katie Leason.

'Changing Habits' finds that clients experience difficulties accessing drug treatment with weak assessment procedures, uneven availability of services, and lengthy delays.

According to the report, care often fails to meet individual needs. Poor service planning, low levels of commissioning expertise and the funding framework make it difficult to improve, it adds.

Survey respondents reported how long waiting times and allocation processes – which involved repeat appointments and further delays – stopped them from accessing a service.

"Lengthy waiting lists can drive clients away: in one area where prospective clients routinely waited five months for an appointment at the community drug service, only one out of three clients offered an appointment ever attended," the report says.

It claims that long waits have other adverse effects too, such as increasing the risk of service choice being driven by availability rather than need, and of local agencies being reluctant to make onward referrals.

"A number of street agencies reported that they rarely referred people to prescribing services or social services departments because they knew they would simply be put on a waiting list," says the report.

Among community drug teams the average waiting time for prescribing services was 35 days, and there were also lengthy delays for community and inpatient detoxification services.

Most social services departments responded to referrals with assessments within 14 days, but one site took almost 80.

There were also marked variations in the time taken to complete assessments and place people in residential services, with an average response time of around eight weeks.

The report makes 20 recommendations and states that more effective assessment and care planning is required to meet a client’s need and minimise the "revolving door" syndrome.

Changing Habits from www.audit-commission.gov.uk/home