Commissioning Substance Misuse and Family Support Services (Staffordshire)

This case study describes how the Staffordshire Drug & Alcohol Action Team (DAAT) partnership re-commissioned their young people's substance misuse service in 2006-07.

The study focuses on how stakeholders were involved in service design and how competitive tendering was used to capture innovative working models.

The scope of the new services commissioned includes Tier 2 and 3 drug and alcohol services and a countywide family support service for children and young people with an increasingly complex range of needs. The approach outlined in this case study is transferable to other targeted and specialist services.

Outcomes

• Enhanced family support to all parents and carers of young people who have alcohol and drug problems
• Outreach service established providing improved access across the county
• A more outward looking service with stronger links with universal services
• Greater emphasis on successful outcome and discharge planning.
• Significant increase in young people able to access substance misuse services (Tier 2 by 32 per cent and Tier 3 by 41 per cent), whilst making efficiency savings of £34,000 per annum
• An increase from 56 to 70 per cent of young people successfully completing their Care Planned Intervention.

Further effective practice case studies relating to joint planning and commissioning are available.