Published 10 August 2009, doi:10.1136/bmj.b3259
Cite this as: BMJ 2009;339:b3259

News

Specialist alcohol treatment services fail to meet need in Scotland

Bryan Christie

1 Edinburgh

The first 150 words of the full text of this article appear below.

One in four adults in Scotland (27.9%) is drinking alcohol at potentially harmful levels, and specialist treatment services are inadequate to meet the demand for help. These are the stark conclusions of a report from the Institute of Psychiatry, which recommends the expansion of treatment services throughout the country.

The report concludes that 206 000 (4.9%) of Scots are alcohol dependent, but only one in 12 of this group (17 000) have access to specialist treatment. Every area of Scotland has a low level of access, as measured by North American standards. The situation in England is worse, with only one in 18 people with alcohol dependence able to benefit from specialist treatment.

The report was produced for the Scottish Association of Alcohol and Drug Action Teams and was funded by the Scottish government. It set out to determine the level of need in Scotland and the ability of services . . . [Full text of this article]


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