The last 12 months have seen ongoing improvements in the accessibility and choice of treatments available to people with problematic drug use in Scotland, says a new Public Health Scotland report on the Medication Assisted Treatment (MAT) standards.
Local alcohol and drug partnerships have ‘engaged well’ with efforts to make sure that services are ‘psychologically and trauma informed’ and tailored to the needs of their populations, the document states.
The MAT standards, which were introduced by the Scottish Government’s drug deaths taskforce in 2021, consist of ten evidence-based standards of care designed to widen access to effective treatment – both substitute medication and psychological and social support. There has been ‘continued progress’ in the implementation and embedding of standards one to five, reflecting ongoing improvements in accessibility and choice, says the benchmarking document, with ‘substantial progress for the more challenging goals’ in standards six to ten, which cover issues like dual diagnosis, trauma informed care and access to housing and welfare support.
Scotland’s drug death rate is by far the worst in Europe, with the most recent figures recording almost 1,200 fatalities. The death rate is four times higher than it was a quarter of a century ago, with people in the country’s most deprived areas more than 15 times more likely to die from drug misuse. Outgoing Scottish Drugs Forum CEO David Liddell told DDN in 2023 that while the ‘good progress’ with MAT was starting to show an impact the numbers were ‘still colossal’.
Last year also saw a 15 per cent increase in the number of drug-related hospital stays, while earlier this month the Scottish Government appointed Maree Todd as its new minister for drug and alcohol policy.
‘The continued progress in implementing the Medication Assisted Treatment (MAT) standards is a testimony to the enthusiasm and dedication of Scotland’s alcohol and drug partnerships (ADPs) in working with many stakeholders,’ said PHS public health consultant John Mooney. ‘These have included clinical colleagues, third sector partners, and most critically, people with lived and living experience, all working collaboratively to ensure that the ongoing implementation during 2024-25 has been underpinned by a human-rights based ethos. This will also help to embed these same principles in the ongoing sustainability of any service improvements.
‘For the forthcoming year, Public Health Scotland will support ADPs as they continue to make improvements and embed the MAT standards to the justice sector and other non-community settings such as acute care. We must also ensure that MAT standards are adapted to the rapidly evolving drug use landscape, in which opioid drugs are supplemented or replaced by their more lethal synthetic equivalents.’
National benchmarking report on the implementation of the MAT standards: Scotland 2024/25 available here