'For last year's words belong to last year's language
And next year's
words await another voice' T S Eliot
2014 promises to be another big year - for DrugScope, our members,
our partners and 'the sector'. A lot of the new bodies and systems will be
celebrating their first birthdays in a few months, with an expectation that
this could make them more assertive in setting their priorities and allocating
their spending from April 2014. Local authorities will face some tough
decisions with their budgets subject to further cuts this year. There is also a
huge agenda of change for the welfare and criminal justice systems – not least,
the Ministry of Justice’s Transforming
Rehabilitation initiative that will potentially have significant implications for offenders with drug and alcohol problems.
We need to
redouble our efforts to provide compelling and relevant answers to the question
'Why Invest?' at local level, engaging with non-specialist commissioners and
elected officials, and speaking to local concerns and priorities. Fortunately,
we've got the data, connections, profile, stories and some good resources too.
DrugScope is developing and collecting these resources as part of its work on
behalf of the Recovery Partnership.
Nationally, we
need to monitor developments and share experiences, to capture good practice
and examples of adaption and resilience, while also providing early warning of
any threats to drug and alcohol services that could jeopardise the ambition to
'build recovery in communities' that is the centrepiece of the national Drug
Strategy. For example, DrugScope will be publishing our 'State of the Sector'
report later this month.
The question 'how
invest?' is related and just as important - this is partly about the quality of
commissioning processes, and the development of things like payment by results,
personalisation, strategic recovery champions and Whole Place Community
Budgets. But it's also about building on a legacy of evidence based practice,
improved clinical governance, and investment in research and training and
workforce development in an age of localism and austerity. For example,
DrugScope will continue to work with the Substance Misuse Skills Consortium to promote
its skills framework and skills hub and through the Federation of Drug and
Alcohol Professionals to support professional and practice standards.
DrugScope enters
2014 as a member of the Recovery Partnership with the Skills Consortium and
Recovery Group UK. No doubt the idea of 'recovery' will continue to be
discussed and contested in 2014. A bit of controversy is no bad thing, it helps
to keep ideas alive and prevents them from ossifying into dogma and
bureaucratic formulation and application. For DrugScope, the idea of recovery
as regaining something lost or taken away has always been the critical one,
both in terms of the empowerment of individuals and the fight for social
integration and justice - for example, through our work on multiple need and disadvantage
as part of the Making Every Adult Matter Coalition or the priority we continue
to give to the impacts of welfare reform.
Entering 2014,
the task of 'building recovery' can be shaped and informed by a growing body of
evidence and experience, including the Strang Report on the role of medications
in recovery and the landmark report on recovery published by the Advisory
Council on the Misuse of Drugs in December. This is the approach that will
guide and inform our work going forward.
The public health
agenda provides an historic opportunity to widen and diversify the 'sector's'
role in local communities, our influence and reach. Drug and alcohol issues
pervade our culture and society - that's why substance misuse services have
something to contribute to such a broad range of public health priorities. This
is an opportunity to broaden our horizons - for example, in responding to
concerns about new psychoactive substances, developing services and
interventions for young people and young adults, working with equality and
diversity groups (such as the LGBT community, older people and migrants),
supporting families and contributing to interventions around domestic violence
and child safeguarding and responding to new demands for harm reduction,
prevention and early intervention. For example, we will be publishing a
briefing on drugs and older people later this month.
There is no doubt
about the challenges ahead: the risk of disinvestment is real, and there is a
risk that in more challenging times the sector could find itself revisiting
some of the polarised debates that were holding it back some years ago.
But I enter 2014
feeling energised and optimistic. Drug and alcohol policy is firmly on the
radar at national level. There have been strong hints that a new Health Premium
will provide a financial incentive for local authorities to continue to invest
in drug and alcohol services. Localism combined with the new public health
agenda creates an opportunity to 're-vision' what we are about as a sector and
as a broad movement for social change.
In particular,
while stigma is a key issue for us, I am heartened that a DrugScope/ICM public
opinion poll conducted in 2009 found that nine out of ten people believed drug
treatment should be available to anyone with a drug problem who was prepared to
address it. Tellingly, one in five said they had direct or indirect experience
of 'drug addiction', if we widened that out to include alcohol and other sorts
of drug problems then the number would be very much higher. This suggests there
is an opportunity to begin a different kind of dialogue with the public than we
have had in the past at a time when localism is demanding that we are much more
outward facing in our engagement with local communities. DrugScope's media and
communications work will continue to reach out to this wider audience and help
to create spaces for these discussions.
DrugScope will be
doing everything we can to support you, including a strategic review of all our
activities in early 2014 to ensure that we are focussing our resources in the
best possible way to add value and provide voice, representation and support.
Can I end with good wishes for the New Year, particularly to all of our members
– and if you’re not a member why not start the year by joining us?
Find out about DrugScope membership and join here
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