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Written question asked by Claire Curtis-Thomas (Labour) on Thursday, 11 March 2010, in the House of Commons. It was due for an answer on Monday, 15 March 2010. It was answered by Baroness Merron (Labour) on Thursday, 18 March 2010 on behalf of the Department of Health.

Drugs: Rehabilitation

Question
To ask the Secretary of State for Health how much has been spent on methadone replacement programmes in South Sefton Primary Care Trust in each year since 2000; and how many individuals have received treatment under these programmes.
Answer

Figures for the amount of money spent on methadone programmes in South Sefton Primary Care Trust (PCT) are not collected centrally.Drug treatment consists of packages of individualised care based on an assessment of an individual's need. Typically opioid substitution treatment with prescribed drugs like methadone and buprenorphine is only one of a number of components of effective treatment programme. This makes it difficult to isolate the cost of a single component, such as methadone prescribing.The National Drug Treatment Monitoring System (NDTMS) records the number of people receiving prescribed opioid substitute treatment (methadone or buprenorphine) from specialist services or their general practitioner (GP), but not which drug they are being prescribed. Figures for the Sefton drugs partnership area are shown in the following table:

Number
2005-06 985
2006-07 1,130
2007-08 1,156
2008-09 1,234
Notes:
1. Data for years before 2005-06 were not broken down to local areas and are therefore unavailable.
2. Figures combine numbers receiving prescribed opioid substitute treatment from specialist community services or GPs.
3. NDTMS does not record which drug is prescribed (methadone or buprenorphine).
4. Figures for South Sefton PCT are not collected centrally by the NDTMS.
Source:
National Treatment Agency

Secondary information

Type
Written question
Reference
507 c966-7W; 322638
Session
2009-10
Related items
Drugs: Rehabilitation
Tuesday, 30 March 2010
Written questions
House of Commons
Subjects
Drugs Rehabilitation
Contains statistics
Yes
Link
View this Written question on www.publications.parliament.uk