Recommendation 47

HM Government Acknowledged

The Government accepts recommendations 46, 47, 48 and 49. The 10-year Drug Strategy commits to increasing the number of high-quality treatment places available in a recovery-orientated system of care in every part of the country, continuing to build a high-quality workforce, improving the quality of psychosocial interventions and ensuring access to mental and physical healthcare and housing and employment support. Local authorities in England are currently increasing the capacity of their drug and alcohol treatment services, including ensuring that people receive appropriate psychosocial support alongside their opioid substitution treatment and that they can continue to access opioid substitution treatment at a pace that meets their needs, through the provision of the £533m additional grant funding over 2022–25. To support this, the Office for Health Improvement and Disparities (OHID) has published a Commissioning Quality Standard for Drug and Alcohol Treatment and Recovery to ensure that the increased investment in treatment is translated into high quality services on the ground. This provides an overarching framework for commissioners to support service improvement and covers areas such as a ‘whole person’ approach to care and encouraging the uptake of long-acting buprenorphine. The Commissioning Quality Standard covers pharmacological interventions, including opioid substitution treatment, and psychosocial interventions. Commissioners are encouraged to provide a high-quality range of psychosocial interventions, including motivational interviewing, cognitive behavioural therapy, and trauma informed approaches, to suit the needs of patients, in addition to pharmacological interventions. In addition, OHID has published updated guidance, Opioid substitution treatment: service self-assessment tool for community drug and alcohol services, for local areas to improve the quality of their opioid substitution treatment. This will drive improvements across the system, ensuring that people can access a range of treatment options, including long-acting buprenorphine and that their treatment is recovery-oriented and delivered at a pace that meets their individual needs. The Government is committed to supporting local authorities and health partners to ensure that people receive appropriate psychosocial support in addition to their opioid substitution treatment and ensure that they can continue to access opioid substitution treatment at a pace that meets their needs.