Source · Select Committees · Public Accounts Committee
Recommendation 23
23
Accepted
Chronic underfunding and staff shortages severely deplete the addiction treatment workforce and skills.
Conclusion
Dame Carol’s independent review on drugs highlighted that a prolonged shortage of funding and frequent retendering of treatment services had led to a high turnover of staff and depletion of skills. During the session, Dame Carol explained that the number of addiction psychiatrists, psychologists, nurses and social workers in the field had fallen significantly.51 Given the well-established links between mental ill health and alcohol, experts were particularly concerned about what Sir Ian described as the ‘dying specialism’ of addiction psychiatry.52 In its written evidence, the Royal College of Psychiatrists (RCPsych) told us there has been a 58% fall in the number of trainee places for addiction psychiatrists from 64 in 2011 to 27 in 2019. RCPsych said that chronic staff shortages and a disconnect between services mean many patients were not getting the care they need.53
Government Response Summary
The government agrees to address workforce issues, committing to develop and publish a substance misuse workforce strategic plan, a national drug and alcohol treatment and recovery capability framework, and a workforce calculator by Autumn 2023. It also continues to support local authorities with workforce planning guidance and analysis.
Government Response
Accepted
HM Government
Accepted
6.1 The government agrees with the Committee’s recommendation. Target implementation date: Autumn 2023 6.2 The department is working with NHS Workforce Transformation and Education (NHS WT&E) to develop a substance misuse workforce strategic plan, with a target publication date of Autumn 2023. The department and NHS WT&E are also developing phase 1 of the national drug and alcohol treatment and recovery capability framework and a workforce calculator, both of which will be published in Autumn 2023. 6.3 The department continues to support local authorities to improve the capacity and quality of their workforce, including the provision of workforce planning guidance in March 2023, as well as detailed workforce analysis, to ensure their plans meet the ambitions of the drug strategy.