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Good practice guide

Drug and alcohol services

Self-assessment checklist for partners

The following questions set out some of the high-level practical issues around drug and alcohol services raised in the Asset management in the NHS report.

NHS boards, councils, police forces, prisons and the voluntary and private sectors should use them to assess themselves against each statement as appropriate and assess the strength of all relevant partnership arrangements.

This checklist is based on statements from a variety of sources including previous Audit Scotland reports, Audit Commission reports and National Audit Office reports.

Agreed priorities and plans

  • Are all outcomes, strategies and action plans related to drugs and alcohol in a local area compatible?
  • Is there joint involvement in strategic planning, priority setting, and resource allocation by partner agency and partnerships?
  • Does planning for drug and alcohol services happen across agency and partnership boundaries?
  • Are service outcomes, priorities and plans included in all service development and commissioning activities?

Risks

  • Has a joint risk assessment been carried out against agreed key priorities and actions?
  • Are identified risks being actively addressed and monitored?

Accountability

  • Is there an agreed scheme of delegation that clearly states what services, resources and responsibilities partner agencies have devolved to other partner agencies or partnerships?
  • Does the agreed scheme of delegation set out the process for accountability of the partnership?

Financial management

  • Has a joint financial framework been agreed by all relevant parties?
  • Does the joint financial framework include:
    • an agreed budget?
    • regular update reports?
    • accounting systems?
  • Will the joint financial framework allow the tracking of the funding?

Commissioning

  • Is the commissioning process between partners integrated, or at a minimum, complementary?
  • Is there a clear protocol or established arrangements for commissioning and developing services involving NHS boards, local councils and the voluntary and private sectors?
  • Do the commissioning arrangements link to each partner’s mainstream activities and budget processes?
  • Is there a standard contract or service level agreement used for all drug and alcohol services across the area?
  • Does the contract or service level agreement include:
    • clearly defined roles and responsibilities?
    • lines of accountability?
    • quality standards, eg clinical guidelines or good practice that should be followed?
    • expected activity and/or outcomes?
  • Does every service have a contract or service level agreement in place?
  • Are there shared guidelines, protocols and procedures with essential services (such as in housing, children’s services and employment services) detailing the criteria for referral between services, the treatment and support options available and the protocols for sharing information between services?

Data collection

  • Do performance monitoring arrangements collect robust and proportionate information on costs and performance of drug and alcohol services?
  • Is there an agreed minimum level of data to be collected by all drug and alcohol services at a local level?
  • Do these data incorporate:
    • national data requirements?
    • clear definitions?
    • activity, outcomes and spend so that value for money can be monitored and evaluated?
    • set timescales for collection?
  • Is there a brief reporting template for services to complete the data?

Service quality

  • Does the performance framework include service quality such as national quality standards, application of clinical guidelines and service users’ views?
  • Is this performance framework monitored regularly?
  • Are protocols in place to deal with failures in the application of these quality measures?

Evidence-based services

  • Has all expenditure on drug and alcohol services in the area been identified?
  • Have the range, activity and outcomes (or aims if outcomes are not available) of all the services provided in the area been mapped out?
  • Are there evidenced reasons to justify the split of spending between different types of services?
  • Make full use of existing evidence
  • Is all of the information collected locally used to regularly review current provision against good practice, service activity and service outcomes (where available)?
  • Is this information used to identify evidenced options for change?
  • Is the latest evidence of effectiveness and identified good practice used?
  • Is this information used to change existing services or commission new ones?
  • Involving service users, their families, service providers and commissioners:
  • Have the views of service users, their families, service providers and commissioners on the quality, accessibility and range of existing services been canvassed?
  • Have the views of service users, their families, service providers, commissioners and the police on the new trends in drug and alcohol use been canvassed?
  • Is the latest evidence of effectiveness and identified good practice used?

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