Alcohol
As part of our contribution to Alcohol Awareness Week, the research report on our project 'Revealing "Alcohol Narratives" - A qualitative study of young people's relationships with alcohol in County Durham & Darlington' has just been published. The study was funded by County Durham & Darlington PCT through Just4Youth. It can be accessed via the following URL
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At the end of 2011/12 Q2 in the North East, 4.7% of estimated dependent drinkers were in contact with (accessing) specialist treatment services for main substance alcohol.
This figure was similar to the national total of 5.0%. At a local Primary Care Trust (PCT) level, Middlesbrough had the highest estimated percentage of dependent drinkers having accessed specialist treatment services at 7.9% whereas Northumberland had the lowest percentage at 3.7%.
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Incorporation of Alcohol Data Into NDTMS
From 1st April 2008 all providers of specialist alcohol treatment will be asked to submit data to the National Drug Treatment Monitoring System (NDTMS) on clients receiving specialist treatment for their alcohol misuse. The data collection will support the Government’s National Alcohol Strategy and will provide information for commissioners on the provision of specialist alcohol treatment services at a local level.
Currently, the NDTMS dataset includes adults in specialist drug treatment who have alcohol as a second or third problematic substance.
NDTMS has always collected data on young people (under 18 years) with any substance misuse i.e. drugs, alcohol or volatile substances. In all cases, regardless of substance of misuse, information is collected on the frequency and levels of drinking.
In the North East, some combined drug and alcohol services have been inputting NDTMS data for adult clients with alcohol as a main substance for some time and there are only a few specialist alcohol services who are unfamiliar with the processes required. Whilst this data has been collected, it has had no impact on the specialist drug treatment indicators (e.g. numbers into treatment and retention).
