From Iran to Australia and Chile to Spain, the Treatment Outcomes Profile, or TOP, has been making a name for itself around the world.
 
Hailed as a world first, the TOP was developed by the NTA in partnership with Dr John Marsden and Dr Michael Farrell - leading researchers in outcomes monitoring in substance misuse - to measure real outcomes for clients in drug treatment in England using a quick and easy to use questionnaire.

This simple approach to monitoring progress in terms of real outcomes over a period of time has prompted a great deal of interest from the international community. Over the last twelve months the NTA has received requests to translate, adapt and use the TOP to measure outcomes in clinics and countries in fifteen countries.

And it looks like international interest will continue to grow as more countries become aware of the benefits of this fully validated,uncomplicated tool.

Earlier this month, a group of policy-makers and treatment providers from Copenhagen visited the NTA to learn about treatment outcomes in England. An article in The Lancet last year had drawn attention to the high level of outcomes achieved by TOP and the Danish visitors were keen to find out if the Danish system could adapt our model.

Over two days, NTA and Home Office colleagues talked to the Danish team about NDTMS, TOP, general outcomes and anti-social behaviour, and arranged a visit to a local treatment provider on the final day.

The Danes were especially interested in outcomes because many opiate users in Denmark are still in treatment after ten years with no clear signs of improvement or exiting the treatment system whereas the Lancet cohort showed that 37% of heroin users stopped using heroin within the first six months. Additionally they were particularly interested in the outcomes that the English treatment system achieves with crack cocaine users.

Colin Bradbury, NTA Head of delivery said: “We are always pleased to share our learning around TOP with other countries. The Danes seemed to get a lot out of their visit and told us they were inspired by the huge amount of progress we had made in a comparatively short time.”