{"id":4398,"date":"2009-08-18T14:41:38","date_gmt":"2009-08-18T13:41:38","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/drugprevent.org.uk\/ppp\/?p=4398"},"modified":"2009-08-30T16:08:15","modified_gmt":"2009-08-30T15:08:15","slug":"gps-the-nta-and-the-numbers-game","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/drugprevent.org.uk\/ppp\/2009\/08\/gps-the-nta-and-the-numbers-game\/","title":{"rendered":"GPs, the NTA and the Numbers Game"},"content":{"rendered":"

In good faith, the Substance Misuse Management in General Practice issued guidance now proven to be based on unfounded figures \u2013 they were taken at face value from the National Treatment Agency for Substance Misuse. Peter O\u2019Loughlin puts the record straight.
\nMany – perhaps most of us – have become accustomed, even weary, of the plethora of self-congratulatory announcements issued by the National Treatment Agency for Substance Misuse. Most of the spin aims to persuade us that protocols and implementations of the current drug treatment strategy are succcessful. Indeed, such is the glut of these proclamations of success, that there is a temptation, at least by this writer, to skip them in favour of more factual and unbiased reading.
\nOn the other hand, when a responsible and professional network such as the Substance Misuse Management In General Practice chooses to re-issue verbatim one of the more misleading documents emanating from the NTA, and endorse it as an \u201cimportant report\u201d, this writer sits up and pays attention.
\nThe document in question is Good Practice in Harm Reduction (NTA report, October 2008).
\nWhile acknowledging that government targets for reducing drug-related deaths have not been met, it makes the following claim: \u201cDrug related deaths have gone down in recent years\u201d.
\nIt then purports to show how harm reduction \u201ccombines work aimed directly at reducing the number of drug-related deaths and blood-borne virus infections, with wider goals of preventing drug misuse and of encouraging stabilisation in treatment and support for abstinence\u201d.
\nIt is the intention of this article, with the aid of statistical evidence from the National Audit Office and the Health Protection Agency, to show that the claim relating to drug deaths is palpably misleading \u2013 and that the current emphasis on harm reduction is failing not only in reducing drug deaths, but that they are actually increasing. This is alongside the abysmal failure of inappropriately named \u201charm reduction\u201d methods to contain the escalation of blood-borne diseases.
\nNATIONAL AUDIT OFFICE FIGURES.
\nThe following facts for drug deaths arising from misuse were published by the NAO in its April 2007 and autumn 2008 reports.
\n\u2022 Drug deaths from heroin and morphine are increasing year on year
\n\u2022 In 2003-4 there was a marked increase in drug-related deaths which were largely attributed to heroin, methadone and morphine.
\n\u2022 Drug-related deaths are the highest in five years.
\n\u2022 The total number of drug-poisoning deaths arising from drug misuse in 2007 increased by 16% from 2006, to 2,640.
\n\u2022 In 2007, 196 deaths involving cocaine occurred, the highest number of deaths involving cocaine since records by the Office of National Statistics began in 1993.
\n\u2022
\nDeaths attributed to methadone are at their highest since 1999. In 2007, methadone-related deaths increased by 35% over 2006 to 325.
\nHEALTH PROTECTION AGENCY FACTS.
\nThe following facts were published by the Health Protection Agency.
\n\u2022 The level of HIV infection among injecting drug users (IDUs) in England and Wales is higher now than at the start of the decade.
\n\u2022 In London, where the prevalence of HIV in IDUs is higher than elsewhere in England and Wales, one in 20 IDUs is infected.
\n\u2022 In the remainder of England and Wales, HIV among IDUs has risen from about one in 400 in 2002 to about one in 150 in 2006.
\n\u2022 The prevalence of hepatitis C among IDUs has risen from 33% in 2000 to 42% in 2006.
\n\u2022 About one in five IDUs has hepatitis B infection, which extrapolates as an increase approaching 200% since 1997.
\nFACING THE FACTS.
\nIt is self evident from the facts that the disproportionate emphasis on harm reduction is failing to achieve that which the NTA document would have us believe.
\nThe author(s) of the document contents have \u2013 knowingly or unknowingly \u2013 resorted to a technique known as \u2018perception management\u2019. This process could be regarded as more sinister than spin, since it seeks to bury the truth under a garbage of rhetoric in order to manufacture a \u2018truth\u2019 designed to influence or change the perceptions of a targeted audience.
\nVia email, I expressed my disappointment to the SMMGP for publishing as a \u201cpolicy update\u201d the NTA document, together with the endorsement the SMMGP gave. I now place on record my appreciation to Dr Chris Ford for the courtesy and promptness of her response.
\nIn an age where avoidance of responsibility is so common, I also take this opportunity of expressing my admiration and respect for the forthrightness of her \u201cmea culpa\u201d, together with the integrity and that rare quality of humility which she displayed in our subsequent correspondence.
\nPETER O\u2019LOUGHLIN is certificated in substance misuse and dependency by the Department of Addictive Behaviours, St George\u2019s Medical School and Addaction, is an associate member of the Medical Council on Alcohol, a registered psychotherapist and clinical hypnotherapist. His 25 years\u2019 experience spans detox, street work, rehabilitation,1:1 and group counselling.
\nSource: Addiction Today Feb.22nd 2009<\/em>
\n<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

In good faith, the Substance Misuse Management in General Practice issued guidance now proven to be based on unfounded figures \u2013 they were taken at face value from the National Treatment Agency for Substance Misuse. Peter O\u2019Loughlin puts the record straight. Many – perhaps most of us – have become accustomed, even weary, of the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[23],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-4398","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-harm-reduction"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/drugprevent.org.uk\/ppp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4398","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/drugprevent.org.uk\/ppp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/drugprevent.org.uk\/ppp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/drugprevent.org.uk\/ppp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/drugprevent.org.uk\/ppp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4398"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/drugprevent.org.uk\/ppp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4398\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/drugprevent.org.uk\/ppp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4398"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/drugprevent.org.uk\/ppp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4398"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/drugprevent.org.uk\/ppp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4398"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}