National Treatment Agency for policy abuse

I have recently been sent an e mail about a forthcoming one day conference in Leicester about future arrangements for Residential (tier 4) treatment here in the UK. All official statements are now pointing to the fact that it is now policy to improve access to residential treatment.

The government’s initial "bright idea" was to give large sums of money to the NHS to open new units, this might sound like a good idea until you realize that all the existing units have empty beds. The Problem is not so much one of capacity as of commissioning arrangements. Whether one gets residential treatment here in the UK seems to depend on several factors, most of which are financial rather than based on any real assessment of clinical need.

The process takes so long and is so convoluted that there are no doubt deaths each year because of either the time it takes or because individuals are so put off that they don't even bother to try to access residential treatment.

I could go on about this - but what struck me about the flyer was that the NTA were asking me to donate a day of my time and pay £165 for the privilege of helping them to save money! As a consultant in the field who actually has many ideas as to how the system could be improved I find this attitude patronizing. Just what sort of business do they think we all run? Do they really expect hard pressed, highly skilled professionals to pay to have their brains picked?

The biggest block to progress here in the UK is the fact that all policy is ultimately driven by political considerations. The NTA and the UK government are only going down this road now because all their previous attempts at "quick fix" treatment approaches have failed dismally and they are now desperate to achieve some real outcomes rather than ending up with 10% of the UK population on methadone for the next 30 years!