Successful completion of drug treatment will be a key measure of improvement in population health when local authorities take over responsibility for public health next year.
It is among 65 national outcome indicators chosen by Andrew Lansley, the Health Secretary, to set the strategic direction for the new public health system that comes into operation in April 2013.
Public Health England, the new national body that will take over functions from the NTA, will regularly publish data on all these outcome indicators so that local authorities can assess progress against their own health and wellbeing strategies.
The drug treatment indicator is based on the number leaving treatment free of their drug of dependency, who do not then re-present to treatment again within six months. This would be expressed as a proportion of the total number in treatment.
The data for calculating this is already collected through the National Drug Treatment Monitoring System (NDTMS), currently run by the National Treatment Agency for Substance Misuse.
Paul Hayes, chief executive of the NTA, said: "Recovery is an individual, person-centred journey that will mean different things to different people, but this welcome development gives the treatment sector a national benchmark for measuring recovery for the first time, in line with the 2010 Drug Strategy's ambition to increase the numbers recovering from dependency."
From April, local commissioners are being incentivised to provide services that sustain recovery. A proportion of the national contribution to local funding for adult drug treatment in 2012-13 will be allocated according to the number of adults who successfully completed and did not come back into treatment anywhere in England for at least six months.
In addition, the eight pioneering Payment by Results (PbR) pilot schemes for drugs and alcohol recovery are developing a similar but more complex metric as one of several indicators that ensure providers are paid for the outcomes they achieve.
Details of the drug treatment indicator are included in the public health outcomes framework published by the Department of Health, Improving outcomes and supporting transparency.
The document said successful completion of drug treatment aligns with the ambition of both public health and the Government's drug strategy, to increase the number of individuals recovering from addiction.
"Individuals achieving this outcome demonstrate a significant improvement in health and well-being in terms of increased longevity, reduced blood-borne virus transmission, improved parenting skills and improved physical and psychological health," it said.
The document added that the indicator aligns well with another agreed public health outcome, reducing re-offending, "as offending behaviour is closely linked to substance use and it is well demonstrated that cessation of drug use reduces re-offending significantly. This in turn will have benefits to a range of wider services and will address those who cause the most harm in local communities."
Notes
National statistics show that 27,969 adults in England successfully completed treatment free of dependency in 2010-11, an 18% increase on the previous year. Preliminary calculations indicate about 10% of them re-presented to treatment within six months, which would suggest the national average recovery rate is currently around 12% of the treatment population.
Allocations to local partnerships from the £406.7m pooled treatment budget for 2012-13 will be made next month, according to a formula which includes a recovery incentive for the first time. The adult budget has been maintained but the formula revised to ensure funding goes to those areas successfully treating more people.
From April 2013, local authorities will commission drug and alcohol recovery services out of a wider ring-fenced public health grant, according to priorities agreed with their local Health and Wellbeing Board.
The eight PbR pilot schemes, which will go live in April, have agreed to measure freedom from drug dependency by the numbers who complete treatment successfully and do not come back into treatment (including through criminal justice routes) in the following 12 months.
The difference in timescale between the PbR dependency metric and the indicator in the outcomes framework is because the pilots are taking place over three years. The PbR providers will also be rewarded for reducing offending, and improving health and wellbeing.