Agenda and minutes

To receive any apologies for absence.

There were no apologies for absence.

There were no declarations of interest.

The Cabinet Member for Health, Social Care, and Wellbeing considered the report which requested approval from the Cabinet Member for Health, Social Care, and Wellbeing for an extension of contract with Humankind for Integrated adult substance misuse services - lot 3 drug and alcohol recovery service.

The Cabinet Member enquired about the outcomes of the contract. The Senior Commissioner noted that the purpose of the Haringey Recovery Service (HRS) was to ensure that, in addition to the clinical services delivered by the drug and alcohol service, that treatment included a strong element of recovery. It provided services which included relapse prevention, counselling, employment support, and peer support. During the pandemic the service was severely disrupted but remained open, moving rapidly to a combination of face to face and virtual services. Despite disruption in 2021/22, the HRS still provided 640 residents with recovery interventions against a target of 750. In 2022/23, the service was on course to reach set targets which included 1,000 residents active in recovery services, 168 counselling sessions, and 750 residents receiving recovery one to one support. Residents and their workers self-accessed success of the service at exit; so far this year, 90% reported improvement in health, psychological wellbeing, and quality of life. Surprisingly for a substance misuse service, over 50% of those using the service were women; this was likely due to the program having women only groups and a whole family approach. Diversity in the service reflected Haringey’s community: white other, Black African and Caribbean groups were well represented and HRS always had a Polish worker or volunteer. Data also demonstrated that the service had been used by people with a number of disabilities, including those with a hearing impairment, learning disability, and mobility impairment. The age span was 18 years to 81 years and the majority were aged between 40-60 years.

The Cabinet Member also asked about the performance of the contract. The Senior Commissioner noted that this service was part of a treatment system within the borough which was measured nationally on successful completion. Haringey performed in line with national and London averages in terms of successful outcomes. In 2019-2020, 329 residents left treatment successfully; in 2021-2022 to date, this was 281. Successful treatment meant abstinence in terms of Class A drugs and reliability improved/ safe limits for alcohol and cannabis and not re-presenting to treatment within six months.

The Senior Commissioner explained that HRS worked with people still in treatment. In terms of reducing harm, it was noted that being in treatment was proven to be protective and that leaving or abstaining was not necessarily beneficial or sustainable. It was highlighted that substance misuse was known to be a relapsing condition and that, importantly, people could always return to the service and there were no barriers to re-entry.

It was also noted that changing or re-tendering this contract would not be recommended unless there were issues with the contract or performance because this client group benefitted from consistency of locations, times, relationships, and  ...  view the full minutes text for item 3.