Flexibility and responsiveness are the hallmarks of success in a rapidly changing drugs recovery landscape, according to leading providers of residential rehabilitation services.
Adaptability was the watchword for many of the speakers contributing to the national networking events for residential providers and treatment commissioners hosted by the NTA.
Richard Johnson, CEO of ANA in Portsmouth, explained how his service listened to feedback from commissioners and clients and changed their business model accordingly.
For example, ANA now offers its abstinence-based programmes in convenient units of four, six, eight and 12 weeks, and runs a collection service to pick up new clients from home, train station or airport.
Representatives of more than 50 providers attended the final Shaping Recovery conference in London on March 29, the last of three events designed to raise the profile of the residential sector in the light of the emphasis on recovery in the government's Drug Strategy.
Karen Biggs, CEO of Phoenix Futures, described how her organisation had transformed its operating model, once known as the original "house on the hill," in response to demand from customers.
Phoenix was now offering clients the choice of tackling its programmes in stages, as well as developing its own variant of "payment by results" for commissioners alongside spot purchase and block contracts.
"The sector needs to be flexible and diverse to respond to the needs and wants of our service users," she said. "The external world told Phoenix House four years ago, we want you to be more flexible and responsive, and I hope we have done that without losing our focus on consistency and quality."
Noreen Oliver, founder of BAC O'Connor, also spoke about challenging the traditional model by offering a choice of provision, including both preparation for rehabilitation and aftercare services.
The latest development in the pioneering Staffordshire recovery community is a social enterprise cafe, backed by NTA capital funding, which will provide a catering and leisure service to the community as well as jobs and training for recovering clients.
"Recovery is an individualised journey that has many routes in and many routes out, and many detours in between. It is about change and doing something different and offering choice," she said.
Wendy Dawson, CEO of the Ley Community in Oxfordshire, highlighted a peer-driven, self-help rehab model that was about to celebrate 40 successful years.
"Many commissioners are falsely guided to believe that residential rehabilitation is expensive when in fact we are less expensive than maintaining someone on a methadone script for 15 or 20 years," she said.
A highlight of all three conferences was a trade fair where providers were able to showcase their products to local commissioners and each other. The London event followed one in York on March 28 and Bristol on March 21.
All participants recognised that providers would need to do more in the future to market themselves, and to make sure that both commissioners and service users knew the full range of options available.
In particular, providers acknowledged that contributing to the commissioning process, and highlighting services relevant to local needs assessment, was a valuable and viable way of maintaining their competitiveness.
Paul Hayes, chief executive of the NTA, described residential rehabilitation as "an under-used resource" and urged providers to find new ways of making the market work for them by focusing on customer choice and successful outcomes.
"We want to ensure the sector does not carry on being under-used," he said. "That doesn't mean individual rehabs have the right to remain open if they are not providing what the market wants, but it does mean every client should have the right to access rehab when it is the right treatment and recovery option for them."
Presentations from all three events are now available to download.