The National Treatment Agency for Substance Misuse (NTA) has announced a reallocation of funds for drug treatment for 2007/08, so that those areas that receive the smallest central government contribution to the overall cost of providing treatment will receive more, whilst those who currently receive a disproportionate amount of central government resources per person treated will receive less.
The NTA has been allocated 398 million in central government funding (known as the pooled treatment budget PTB) to distribute to local partnerships on the basis of demand via Primary Care Trusts (PCTs), Strategic Health Authorities (SHAs) and the Young Peoples Substance Misuse Partnership Grant for drug treatment in 2007/8, an increase of 3.5% over 2006/7.
Overall, the resource made available in support of community based treatment distributed through PCTs and SHAs will increase by 3.7% to 373.3 million. This will be allocated between partnerships to reflect the demand for treatment in each area during 2006/7, rather than a population based formula.
This will, the NTA claims, enable the organisation to allocate significant increases to those partnerships who would be unable to expand and improve their treatment systems without additional investment, by redistributing resources from partnerships where the current level of activity does not justify the size of investment being made through the PTB.
NTA Chief Executive, Paul Hayes, commented: "Significant improvements have been made in the delivery of drug treatment in England over the past six years, which reflects the hard work of local partnerships up and down the country. The NTA now has the data to channel the funds to the areas that need it most, and I am confident that sufficient resources will be available for all partnerships to continue to develop their treatment systems. "
Source: www.nta.nhs.uk
Posted: 29th January 2007
For more information please contact Ruth Goldsmith in the DrugScope Press Office on 020 7940 7517 (07736 895563 out of hours) or at press@drugscope.org.uk
