Enhanced alcohol and drug misuse services set to be approved by Rotherham Cabinet

A town hall in sunny weather.

Rotherham Council is set to approve plans for services for drugs and alcohol misuse at the next Cabinet meeting on Monday 11 July 2022.

In May this year, Rotherham Council, along with the other South Yorkshire Local Authorities, were awarded the Drugs and Alcohol Grant 2022-2025 by the Government. Through two funding streams, the first, the Supplemental Substance Misuse Treatment and Recovery Grant, will give health services £688,722 in 2022/23, with a further £1.2m will be invested in services in 2023/24.

The second, the Inpatient Detoxification Grant, will offer £64,077 per year for specialist placements for Rotherham residents who require to be admitted as inpatients to undergo detoxification from alcohol or drugs.

Rotherham was highlighted as one of 50 local authorities with higher than national average referrals for drug and alcohol misuse treatment.

If approved by Cabinet, the funding will allow services to provide a more tailored approach to care for dependency with plans to increase the number of treatment places available by 20%. Plans set to go to Cabinet also include:

  • Increasing commissioning capacity for services
  • Providing planned educational activities to support prevention of drugs and alcohol misuse
  • Improving care pathways between the criminal justice system and drug treatment
  • Enhancing the quality of treatment offered
  • Better residential rehabilitation options for residents who need further support
  • Better collaboration with mental health and community partners
  • Enhancing recovery support through developing a ‘recovery academy’
  • Expanding the workforce to meet the needs of the service

Initial work in year one of the funding will raise the profile of the service through outreach and engagement activities in communities across the borough.

Rotherham Council’s Cabinet Member for Adult Social Care and Public Health, Cllr David Roche, said: “Part of the Council’s Plan is to support residents to live better, healthier lives and funding such as the Drugs and Alcohol Grant 2022-2025 will help the Council and its partners to provide an enhanced service that will help towards reducing harm and increase the capacity of support within the borough.

“Unfortunately, there are many lives affected by the misuse of drugs and alcohol across the UK, including those struggling with dependence on both alcohol and drugs, their families, their children, and their friends and colleagues. There are already services in Rotherham which can support you or your loved ones to deal with substance problems, and we will be working with a range of partners to devise plans for the additional funding that has been allocated.”

Further information about where to get support for drug and alcohol misuse can be found below:

CGL (Change Grow Live)

www.changegrowlive.org/drug-alcohol-recovery-rotherham

Email rotherham.admin@cgl.org.uk or call 01709 917649

DIVERT (young people aged up to 18)

www.changegrowlive.org/divert-rotherham/info

Email divert@cgl.org.uk or call 01709 917651 or WhatsApp 07407 107 890

Published: 5th July 2022