Pike, Brigid
(2011)
HSE plan for drug-related services in 2011.
Drugnet Ireland,
Issue 37, Spring 2011,
pp. 12-13.
The HSE National Service Plan 2011 sets out the agency’s plan in the drugs and alcohol area for 2011.1 A priority for the HSE Social Inclusion Services, which include addiction services, is to ‘continue to address the health impacts of addiction and/or substance misuse’. The Social Inclusion Services have also prioritised actions to enhance the health and well-being of other vulnerable groups, including the homeless, Travellers, ethnic minorities and members of the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) communities.
Deliverable outputs’ for 2011 are listed in the following table..
With regard to drug treatment, comparison with the 2010 plan indicates that the HSE is seeking to maintain similar overall levels of activity and performance in 2011 while increasing service provision in the South and West regions.2 No explanation for the changes in the levels of treatment supply and demand across the HSE regions is given in the plan.
Methadone treatment – The target for 2011 is to increase the total number of clients in methadone treatment outside prisons by 2.6%, from 8,278 to 8,500, and the number in treatment in prisons by three, from 497 to 500. While the number of clients in methadone treatment in the DML and DNE regions will rise by 1% (from 7,861 to 7,950), in the South Region the number is set to increase by 47% (from 187 to 275), and in the West Region by 19.6% (from 230 to 275).
Treatment of substance misusers over 18 years following assessment – In 2011 the total number of substance misusers over 18 years who will have commenced treatment following assessment is set to decline by 2%, from 1,380 to 1,350.In the DML and DNE regions the number will decline by 67% (from 870 to 520), while in the South and West regions it will increase by 63% (from 510 to 830).
In 2010 the target of ensuring that 100% of substance misusers over 18 years started treatment within one calendar month of assessment was not achieved: in the DML and DNE regions only 70.6% and 71.1% respectively entered treatment within the month, while in the South and West regions the proportions were 98.5% and 97.7% respectively. In 2011 the HSE will again try to reach the 100% target.
Treatment of substance misusers under 18 years following assessment – In 2010 the total number of substance misusers under 18 years who commenced treatment following assessment exceeded the target of 115 by 18% (n=136). While the DML, DNE and South regions all came in on or under target, the West Region exceeded its target by 46% (65/30).
The 2010 target of ensuring that 100% of substance misusers under 18 years commenced treatment within two weeks of assessment was met in the DML and DNE regions, but was not achieved in the South and West regions. In 2011 the HSE has again set the target at 100% for all four HSE regions.
Children and families
The 2011 plan sets out the HSE’s priorities and actions with regard to delivering its statutory services in the areas of children in care, after care and youth homelessness, and also with regard to maintaining and developing family support services and strengthening the provision of aftercare services.
Specifically in relation to substance abuse, the service plan states that an ‘analysis of addiction services for children nationwide based on best practice’ will be completed in the fourth quarter of 2011. This action is in response to Recommendation 3 in the Report of the Commission to Inquire into Child Abuse (the Ryan Report), on the provision of counselling and educational services for children, which called on the HSE and the drugs task forces to establish addiction services for children nationwide based on best practice by June 2011.
Mental health
In the mental health area the HSE’s priorities in 2011 are to:
· continue to implement elements of A vision for change, particularly reconfiguration of services from a model of care predicated on inpatient provision to a community-based recovery model, reconfiguration of community mental health teams, development of clinical pathways and progressing the capital infrastructure;
· implement measures to reduce suicide rates; and
· enhance the provision of child and adolescent mental health Services.
1. Health Service Executive (2011)
National Service Plan 2011. Available at
www.hse.ie2. For an overview of the 2010 objectives, see Pike B (2010) HSE aims to strengthen drug services delivery. Drugnet Ireland, (34): 8–9.
