Wednesday 17 November 2010

National Treatment Agency for Substance Misuse - Facing the future: Paul Hayes' speech to Drugscope conference

National Treatment Agency for Substance Misuse - Facing the future: Paul Hayes' speech to Drugscope conference

Harm reduction services will remain a cornerstone of a balanced drug treatment system even as it adopts a more recovery-oriented focus, according to Paul Hayes, NTA Chief Executive.

He told a DrugScope conference that government plans for the new Public Health Service to oversee drug and alcohol treatment services was a guarantee of the enduring importance of reducing blood-borne virus infections and drug-related deaths.

"The new Drug Strategy will be recovery-focussed but that does not mean it is abstinence-obsessed. There is no threat to harm reduction services," said Mr Hayes.

"There is no political appetite to challenge the maintenance of a balanced treatment system in which harm reduction services are the bedrock of what we do and a gateway into treatment and recovery. Our challenge for the future is adding recovery into what we do in a more systematic way, not subtracting harm reduction."

Mr Hayes spoke shortly before Anne Milton, the Public Health Minister, announced that the spending review had transferred some of the £600 million drugs budget from the Home Office and the Ministry of Justice to the Department of Health from next year.

"This gives us the chance to join up spending on drug treatment to improve support along the full course of a person's recovery," she told the conference on tackling drugs in the new decade.

"It also means we can avoid waste and duplication – to make sure every penny really works hard for service users." (Read Anne Milton's speech)

Earlier Mr Hayes confided that he was "not losing sleep" over the prospective level of the Pooled Treatment Budget next year, but he was worried about the threat of disinvestment by hard-pressed local authorities and primary care trusts who currently spend an extra £200 million on drug treatment in England.

He urged DrugScope members to lobby local politicians, councillors and decision-makers to maintain the level of local investment in drug treatment and ensure the new Public Health Service had local as well as national funding streams.

Mr Hayes said the NTA's role over the next 18 months was to manage the transition to the Public Health Service, into which the NTA itself would be incorporated. The NTA would continue to promote recovery, improve skills, incentivise performance, and ensure transparency and set out a business plan for 2011-12 once the Drug Strategy was published.

Mr Hayes added: "We want a recovery-oriented system that is ambitious for clients, focussed on outcomes, engaged with communities, and plumbed into mutual aid networks, so that people who go on this journey emerge not only drug-free but also have a job, somewhere to live, are in touch with their families and a stake in society."

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