Healthcare professionals and partners

The NTA has developed a series of initiatives to improve the quality of drug treatment in England by ensuring that clinicians and keyworkers have access to a range of tools to tackle drug misuse.

More on routes to recovery

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The NTA is working with the relevant government departments and the ISA to advise on the specific issues for the substance misuse workforce and service users. The NTA will work to ensure that the treatment, rehabilitation and reintegration into the workplace of service users are all appropriately considered by the ISA.

The Independent Safeguarding Authority (ISA) is a new independent body, established under section 1 of the Safeguarding Vulnerable Groups Act 2006, to prevent unsuitable people from working or volunteering with children and vulnerable adults. 

The ISA will assess any person who wants to work or volunteer with children or vulnerable people where there is information that may indicate they pose a risk to these groups. From July 2010, individuals who want to work with children or vulnerable adults will be able to apply to become ISA-Registered. Using data gathered by the Criminal Records Bureau (CRB), including relevant criminal convictions, cautions, police intelligence and information provided by a range of other sources, such as current and past employers and even individuals, the ISA will decide on a case-by-case basis whether each person poses a risk to children or vulnerable adults.

The ISA is committed to ensuring that the scheme, whilst protecting the safety of children and vulnerable people, does not have any unintended consequences or unnecessarily disrupt service delivery or other priorities. The NTA is working with the relevant Government departments and the ISA to advise on the specific issues for the substance misuse workforce and service users.  The NTA will work to ensure that the treatment, rehabilitation and reintegration into the workplace of service users are all appropriately considered by the ISA.

The ISA has produced some useful factsheets that outline the new scheme and the responsibilities of employers and staff. 

In addition, DrugScope and LDAN have produced a set of FAQs on the ISA for the drug and alcohol sectors.

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A range of NTA-supported workforce initiatives from 2003 to 2010 aimed to develop the professional skills of existing staff and increase numbers working in the substance misuse adult treatment sector. Later developments have focused on the Substance Misuse Skills Consortium (see above). Publications from the earlier initiatives may still be useful and include:

• A joint workforce development plan (PDF) to support partnerships in workforce planning
• Staff development toolkit for drug and alcohol residential services (PDF)
• Revised and updated 2006 staff development toolkit for drug and alcohol services (PDF)
• Workforce strategy template (Word)
• Joint commissioning development programme (website). The NTA supported an initiative designed and organised by the Institute of Public Care at Oxford Brookes University, which offers a certificate in commissioning and purchasing for public care for those currently undertaking a commissioning, purchasing or contracting of adult substance misuse role in England.
• Taking a Competency Approach to Fair Recruitment in the Substance Misuse Field (PDF). The aim of the publication is to set examples of good practice into the framework of recruitment and in particular show how the National Occupational Standards can be used throughout the process. 
• Alcohol and other drugs, a pocket guide for social workers (PDF), produced by the University of Bedfordshire with support from the NTA, BASW, AERC and Tilda Goldberg Centre
• Careers in Prison Healthcare (PDF), produced by NTA, Department of Health, Staffordshire County Council

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