§ John MannTo ask the Secretary of State for Health how many known heroin addicts there are in(a) Britain, (b) Nottinghamshire and (c) Bassetlaw. [71392]
§ Ms Blears[holding answer 23 July 2002]: This information is not available centrally.
The estimate of the number of drug misusers in the United Kingdom is between 200,000 and 220,000. The figure for Nottinghamshire and Bassetlaw is not calculated either centrally or locally at present.
§ John MannTo ask the Secretary of State for Health what range of treatments are available for heroin addicts in(a) England and (b) Bassetlaw. [71393]
§ Ms Blears[holding answer 23 July 2002]: The types of structured treatment available in England are inpatient detoxification, specialist prescribing, general practitioner prescribing, counselling, day care and residential rehabilitation.
All of these are available to the residents of Bassetlaw, and are delivered by the local community drug team, the young peoples criminal justice team, FaceIT, SORTED, the needle and syringe exchange, Hettys (Families and Carers group) and WAM, as well as out of area residential providers.
§ John MannTo ask the Secretary of State for Health how many heroin addicts are undergoing treatment in(a) England, (b) Nottinghamshire and (c) Bassetlaw. [71390]
§ Ms Blears[holding answer 23 July 2002]: This information is not available in the form requested.
We can provide data on the number of users presenting to drug misuse agencies (including both doctors and other agencies), with heroin as their main drug of misuse during the six month period ending 31 March 2001. These figures are shown in the table.
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Number of persons presenting for treatment at drug agencies, with heroin reported as the main drug of misuse, during the six month period ending 31 March 2001 Area Number England 22,431 North Nottinghamshire HA 190 Nottingham HA 109 Note:
This data is derived from the Department of Health Statistical Bulletin "Statistics from the Regional Drug Misuse Databases for six months ending March 2001".
The Office of National Statistics published the results of a special exercise that was carried out to estimate the number of drug users in treatment in England in 2000–01 ("Statistics from the Regional Drug Misuse Databases on drug misusers in treatment in England, 2000–2001" (2001). These are summarised in the table below.
Number of drug misusers in treatment Area Number England 118,522 North Nottinghamshire HA 398 Nottingham HA 900 Note:
These figures are derived from the ONS analysis of data from the Regional Drug Misuse Databases for the six months ending March 2001 together with a census for April to September 2000.
The majority of misusers above were attending community drug services. Sixty-seven per cent, of those drug misusers entering treatment in England for the six months ending March 2001 reported heroin as the main drug of misuse. The percentage of those "in treatment" with heroin as the main drug of misuse is not available
§ John MannTo ask the Secretary of State for Health what method his Department uses to quantify the proportion of young people using heroin in Nottinghamshire. [71394]
§ Ms Blears[holding answer 23 July 2002]: The local regional centre for the national drug treatment monitoring system collects information on people presenting for treatment and the drugs misused. Information is also collected at 31 March each year for clients in contact during the year (starting at 31 March 2002); this includes whether they are still in treatment.
The national treatment agency for substance misuse (NTA) report that there is an estimate of the number of known young individuals with heroin addiction produced by the local drug action team (DAT). In 2001–02, the local DAT were aware of about 200 under 19s with a heroin addiction through reporting to them from the young peoples services in Mansfield and from COMPASS.
§ John MannTo ask the Secretary of State for Health what the average waiting time for treatment for heroin addiction was in the last 12 months. [71391]
§ Ms Blears[holding answer 23 July 2002]: Information provided to the national treatment agency (NTA) for substance misuse on waiting times (the number of weeks from when a drug user presents for treatment, to when appropriate services commence) in December 2001 is broken down by type of treatment rather than main drug of misuse. However the majority of all individuals entering treatment report heroin as their main drug of misuse. The waiting time information from the drug action team templates is shown in the table below.
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Average Waiting Time by Modality of Treatment for England in December 2001 Treatment modality Average waiting time Inpatient detoxification 12 weeks Specialist prescribing 14.1 weeks
Average Waiting Time by Modality of Treatment for England in December 2001 Treatment modality Average waiting time GP prescribing 5.7 weeks Counselling 7.6 weeks Day care 6 weeks Residential rehabilitation 9.1 weeks Notes:
From drug action team template returns based on a "snapshot" taken in December 2001.