Unmet need for substance misuse treatment
Research type
Research Study
Full title
Unmet need for substance misuse treatment
IRAS ID
314597
Contact name
Michael Robinson
Contact email
Sponsor organisation
University of York
Duration of Study in the UK
1 years, 1 months, 29 days
Research summary
There are approximately 250,000 people using heroin and other opiates, 180,000 using crack cocaine and 600,000 people dependent on alcohol in England. However, only 50% of the opiate users, 40% of the crack users and 20% of the dependent drinkers are receiving treatment for their substance use. This substance use is associated with high levels of deaths, ill health, crime, homelessness and associated economic costs, and evidence shows that drug and alcohol treatment is effective – saving lives, improving health and reducing crime. It is therefore a high priority to get the untreated into treatment.
We know remarkably little about these three groups (problem opiate, crack and alcohol users) and this study aims to address this gap by interviewing people in each group who have never been in treatment before or been out of treatment for at least one year and been admitted into hospital, asking them about:
• current substance use
• pathways into substance use
• life circumstances
• previous treatment
• knowledge of treatment
• barriers to treatment
• impact of COVID-19
• support they would like in future
This 18-month study will include research in two hospitals: Homerton University Hospital, Hackney, London and James Cook University Hospital, Middlesbrough. Both areas have high levels of opiate and crack use, and dependent drinking. We will work with specialist substance abuse workers (Alcohol Health Workers) in these hospitals to identify patients with drink and/or drug problems but who are not in treatment, for interview. We aim to interview at least 15 dependent drinkers and 5 heroin and/or crack users in each site.REC name
Wales REC 6
REC reference
22/WA/0331
Date of REC Opinion
24 Nov 2022
REC opinion
Favourable Opinion