The 'Residential Rehab Outcomes Project' website went live yesterday, this
is a project I have been working since leaving Phoenix Futures earlier this
year.
www.rehaboutcomes.info
"For people with long-standing drug/alcohol dependency problems who want to
become drug free, residential rehabilitation is a vital component of the
treatment system.
There is good evidence that, combined with aftercare, these services are
effective. There is less evidence that the overall residential treatment
system is effective. The structure of the market does not ensure that the
best houses remain open; that clients get into the rehab that best meets
their needs nor that the taxpayer gets the best outcomes for this investment.
Even with the decision by CSCI to publish star ratings (for England), Care
Managers have very limited information about how rehabs compare and what
they actually achieve for clients; this information gap undermines the
effectiveness of this corner of the substance misuse field.
The Rehab Outcomes Project is under development to address this need. We aim
to improve the effectiveness of residential rehabilitation in the UK by
collating and sharing information about the outcomes, effectiveness and
quality of these important services."
The scheme is UK specific, at least for the foreseable future.
In brief, Care Managers will record basic placement data along with NDTMS
and TOPS and endeavour to collect the follow up TOPS post treatment. This
data is uploaded to a server, collated and analysed. When there is a
sufficient body of data to draw meaningful conclusions, this data is then
fed back to care managers. I believe it will also be possible to provide
benechmarking data for providers that I think would be invaluable, though
need more discussion to pin this down.
If you are interested in keeping in touch with the project, please register
on the site. Make comments on this list - or even better via the discussion
page on the site itself for the benefit of none TC rehab people.
Looking forward to hear what you think!
Many regards
Richard Phillips
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