Question reference: S6W-26980
- Asked by: Sharon Dowey, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
- Date lodged: 24 April 2024
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Current status: Answered by Christina McKelvie on 2 May 2024
Question
To ask the Scottish Government what measures it is taking to ensure equitable access to alcohol and drug rehabilitation services in (a) East and (b) South Ayrshire, in light of reports that the 12-week programme costs between £15,000 and £20,000 per person.
Answer
The Scottish Government has made a significant investment in residential rehabilitation services and associated aftercare as part of the £250 million investment into our National Mission to improve and save lives impacted by substance use. As part of this investment, we allocated a £5 million uplift in funding to Alcohol and Drug Partnerships (ADPs) across Scotland, to be spent on residential rehabilitation until the end of this parliament.
The Scottish Government has been clear that this funding must be distributed fairly, taking account of the many factors that influence the needs of particular areas and the costs of supplying local services. The ADP uplift, therefore, was and continues to be administered using the National Resource Allocation Formula, which is responsibility of the NHS Scotland Resource Allocation Committee (NRAC).
The NRAC formula remains the fairest method of distributing funding allocations across the country, and this was applied to the allocation for both East and South Ayrshire, taking into consideration the local requirements as appropriate.
Public Health Scotland published their interim Evaluation of the Scottish Government Residential Rehabilitation programme in February, where the best available evidence put the average cost estimate of a publicly funded residential rehabilitation placement in Scotland at £11,000 per person (in the first six months of financial year 2023-2024).