Drug and alcohol services: commissioning ambition needs to be funded

摘要

The challenges that are now very real to every alcohol and drug service in the country of the UK will be discussed in this article. Services nationally have been affected with budget cuts in real terms over the last five years. This is from moving the budget from the NHS to local authority and hence removing its ring-fenced status and overall cuts to the public health budget (Rhodes, 2018). This has had a real effect on the shape of drug and alcohol sendees, with many being redesigned and some of the most experienced and higher earners being removed from the system in the move to be cost-effective (Recovery Partnership and Adfam, 2017). However, the term cost-effective has not been fully met, as the cost has been reduced but the services have not become more effective (Advisory Council on the Misuse of Drugs, 2017).