Alcohol and other drug treatment services in Australia annual report

In 2022–23, 478 publicly funded alcohol and other drug (AOD) treatment agencies in New South Wales provided 44,963 treatment episodes to 27,874 clients (tables ST NSW.1, Agcy.1, SCR.21).

New South Wales reported:

• While client numbers have decreased between 2021-22 and 2022-23 (28,364 to 27,874), both years were an increase from 2013-14 (24,184).
• More clients are accessing AOD services in 2022–23 than 2013–14, after adjusting for population growth (384 clients per 100,000 people compared with 372 per 100,000, respectively).
• The number of treatment episodes increased by 6% between 2013–14 and 2022–23 (42,406 and 44,963 episodes, respectively), peaking in 2018–19 (52,563 episodes) (tables ST NSW.2, SCR.21).

During 2023, there was a transition between data warehouses in New South Wales, this may impact the data for the 2022–23 period.

New South Wales, 2022–23

In 2022–23, most clients in New South Wales attended 1 agency (79% of clients) (Table SCR.23). Clients received an average of 1.6 treatment episodes, similar to the national average (1.8 episodes) (Table SCR.21).

Client demographics

In 2022–23:

• Nearly all (98%) clients in New South Wales received treatment for their own alcohol or drug use, of which almost 2 in 3 people were male (63%) (Figure NSW 1).
• Females were more likely to receive treatment for someone else’s drug use than males (56% of female clients compared with 42% of male clients).
• Nearly half (49%) of all clients were aged 20–39 years.
• 1 in 5 (20%) of all clients were Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander (First Nations) people, consistent with the national proportion (18%).
• The majority (86%) of all clients were born in Australia and nearly all (97%) reported English as their preferred language (tables SC.5, SC NSW.1–3, SC NSW.21–22).

Figure NSW 1: AODTS clients by client type and selected demographics, New South Wales, 2022–23

New and returning clients

In 2022–23:

• Over half (56% or 15,285) of all clients in New South Wales were returning clients, who have previously received AOD treatment from a service at some point since 2013–14.
• Around 4 in 9 (44% or 12,105) of all clients in New South Wales were a new client, who had not previously received treatment since 2013–14 (see Key terminology and glossary) (Table SCR.28).

Drugs of concern

In 2022–23, among clients in New South Wales who received treatment for their own alcohol or drug use (44,117 episodes):

• Alcohol was the most common principal drug of concern (44% or 19,268 episodes).
• Amphetamines as a principal drug of concern accounted for over 1 in 5 episodes (23% or 10,295), followed by cannabis (15% or 6,458) (Figure NSW.2, tables SC.1, ST NSW.6).

Figure NSW 2: Proportion of treatment episodes for own drug use, by drug of concern, New South Wales, 2013–14 to 2022–23 (per cent)

In 2022–23, for clients who received treatment for their own use of amphetamines (10,295 episodes):

• Methamphetamine was reported as a principal drug of concern in 93% (9,605) of treatment episodes (Figure NSW 3, Table Drg.4).
• Over half (52%) of the treatment episodes where methamphetamine was the principal drug of concern, smoking was the most common method of use, followed by injecting (38%) (Figure NSW 3). 

Figure NSW 3: Proportion of treatment episodes for own drug use, by amphetamine group (2013–14 to 2022–23) or method of use (2022–23), New South Wales (per cent)  

Clients can nominate up to 5 additional drugs of concern; these drugs are not necessarily the subject of any treatment within the episode (see technical notes).

In 2022–23, where additional drugs of concern were reported, cannabis and nicotine were the most common additional drugs of concern (both 12% of episodes), followed by amphetamines (7.5%) and alcohol (6.5%) (Table ST NSW.7).

Over the period 2013–14 to 2022–23 New South Wales was consistent with national trends:

• Alcohol remained the most common drug of concern, although there was variation in treatment episode numbers during this time, fluctuating from 17,851 to 19,268 episodes over this period.
  • The proportion of alcohol treatment episodes relative to all other drugs of concern, declined from 44% in 2013–14 to 37% in 2016–17, rising to 44% again in 2022–23 (Figure NSW 2, Table ST NSW.6).

• Amphetamines were the second most common principal drug of concern in 2022–23 and have increased since 2013–14 (from 17% or 6,748 episodes to 23% or 10,295 episodes).

• Within the amphetamines group, methamphetamine was reported as the principal drug of concern in over half (55%) of episodes in 2013–14, rising to 63% in 2017–18 before a considerable increase to 93% in 2022–23 (Figure NSW 3).
• The rise in episodes may be related to increases in funded treatment services and/or improvement in agency coding practices for methamphetamine.

• Cannabis was the third most common principal drug of concern, decreasing from 20% (8,359 episodes) to 15% (6,458 episodes) in 2022–23 (Figure NSW 2, Table ST NSW.6).

Treatment

In 2022–23, for treatment episodes in New South Wales (44,963 episodes):

• Counselling was the most common main treatment provided (37% of episodes), followed by support and case management (15%) and withdrawal management (14%).
• Where an additional treatment was provided as a supplementary to the main treatment, ‘other’ treatment (14%) was the most common, followed by counselling (8.8%) (Table ST NSW.13). See technical notes for further information on calculating proportions for additional treatment type.

Over the period 2013–14 to 2022–23:

• Counselling remained the most common treatment type for all episodes relative to other treatment types, rising from 35% (14,977 episodes) in 2013–14 to 42% (16,090) in 2016–17, dropping to 37% (16,690) in 2022–23.
• Withdrawal management episodes have fallen in the 10 years to 2022–23 from 18% (7,618 episodes) to 14% (6,345 episodes) (tables ST NSW.13, NSW.15).

Figure NSW 4: Proportion of treatment episodes, by treatment type, New South Wales, 2013–14 to 2022–23

Agencies

In 2022–23, in New South Wales:

• 3 in 5 (60% or 287) AOD agencies were government treatment agencies.
• The majority (64%) of the 478 publicly funded treatment agencies were located in Major cities, followed by Inner regional areas (31%).
• Agencies located in Major cities provided over 2 in 3 (69%) of all treatment episodes.
• Less than 1% of treatment agencies were located in Remote or Very remote areas – these provided less than 1% of all treatment episodes (156 episodes)
• Across all remoteness areas, the majority of agencies were government agencies, ranging from 50% in Very remote areas and 100% in Remote areas (Figure NSW 5, tables Agcy.1, Agcy.3–4).

In the period 2013–14 to 2022–23, the number of publicly funded treatment agencies in New South Wales rose from 292 to 478 (Table Agcy.1).

Figure NSW 5: Number of agencies, by remoteness area and sector, New South Wales, 2022–23