Addiction Psychiatry Services Project

Background to the study

• Substance misuse is a growing problem
• Recent years have seen the publication of a number of strategies aimed at tackling the problem; the updating of clinical guidelines; the establishment of the National Treatment Agency; and an increasing interest in the quality of services provided for individuals with drug and alcohol problems
• Professional groups such as GPs, nurses and psychiatrists have begun to examine the roles they are playing, or could potentially play, in treating individuals with substance misuse problems
• There is currently a lack of information concerning the professional roles and activities of addiction psychiatrists and the types of services they manage or work in. Such information is required in order to examine service deficits, plan future services, address workforce issues, training and research, and inform future policy

• To investigate the roles and responsibilities of addiction psychiatrists in the organisation and provision of addiction psychiatric services in England. Issues to be addressed include:
• How many consultant addiction psychiatrists are working in England and how are they distributed geographically?
• How are addiction psychiatric services typically configured?
• Which treatment modalities and interventions are addiction psychiatrists / addiction psychiatric services typically providing?
• What are the typical characteristics of the individuals seen by addiction psychiatrists/ addiction psychiatric services?
• How do addiction psychiatrists /addiction psychiatric services link with other services?
• What other activities are addiction psychiatrists involved in (e.g., teaching, research etc.)?
• How do addiction psychiatrists perceive their current role and workload?

1. Mapping addiction psychiatrists and the services in which they work throughout England. Potentially, three groups will be identified: consultant addiction psychiatrists, general adult psychiatrists who specifically treat patients with addiction problems, and specialist registrars who are training in the addictions field. A number of information gathering strategies will be employed in conducting the mapping exercise
2. In-depth interviews will be conducted with addiction psychiatrists, academics working in addiction research departments and other relevant individuals. In addition, a focus group will be conducted
3. Survey(s) will be undertaken with addiction psychiatrists. The survey instrument(s) will be devised on the basis of a literature review and the results of the qualitative research
4. The focus groups will be re-convened to discuss the results of the study

• Three-year study, starting spring 2003