Alcohol and other drug treatment services in Australia annual report

In 2022–23, 350 publicly funded alcohol and other drug (AOD) treatment agencies in Victoria provided 92,888 treatment episodes to 37,417 people (tables Agcy.1, SCR.21). 

Victoria reported:

• There was a 2.9% increase in client numbers in 2022–23 (37,417) compared with the previous year where client numbers were impacted due to COVID-19 and state-wide system changes. 
• Client numbers increased gradually from 2013–14 (29,548), with the largest increase in clients from 2017–18 (33,006) to 2019–20 (37,391).  
• More clients are accessing AOD services in 2022–23 than 2013–14, after adjusting for population growth (633 clients per 100,000 people compared with 580 per 100,000, respectively).  
• A 6% increase in treatment episodes from 2021–22 (87,630 episodes) to 2022–23 (92,888 episodes) (Table SCR.21).
• The number of treatment episodes increased by 56% since 2013–14 (59,392 episodes) to 2022–23 (92,888 episodes), falling to its lowest number of episodes in 2014–15 (45,855 episodes) (Table ST VIC.2).

Victoria, 2022–23

In 2022–23, over 7 in 10 (72%) clients in Victoria attended 1 agency and received an average of 2.5 treatment episodes, which is higher than the national average of 1.8 treatment episodes (tables SCR.21, SCR.23). This is due to the methods used in Victoria’s data collection system, where each type of treatment (regardless of main or additional treatment) results in a separate treatment episode (see Data Quality Statement for further information).

Client demographics

In 2022–23:

• Nearly 9 in 10 (87%) clients in Victoria received treatment for their own alcohol or drug use, of which over half (53%) of people were male (Figure VIC 1, tables SC VIC.1, SCR.27).
• 2.2% of all clients reported sex as ‘another term’, the highest proportion reported across all states and territories in the collection period. ‘Another term’ replaced the category ‘other’ in 2022–23. ‘Other’ was collected for the first time in 2018–19 (Table SC VIC.1).
• Over half (53%) of all people were aged 20–39 years.
• Almost 1 in 10 (9.8%) of all clients were Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander (First Nations) people, which is lower than the national proportion (18%).
• The majority (82%) of all clients were born in Australia and mostly (95%) reported English as their preferred language (tables SC VIC.1–3, SC.4, SC VIC.21–22).

Figure VIC 1: AODTS clients by client type and selected demographics, Victoria, 2022–23

New and returning clients

In 2022–23:

• Over half (55% or 20,580) of all clients in Victoria were returning clients, who have previously received AOD treatment from a service at some point since 2013–14.
• Around 4 in 9 (45% or 16,733) of all clients in Victoria 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 for clients in Victoria who received treatment for their own alcohol or drug use (78,323 episodes):

• Alcohol was the most common principal drug of concern, accounting for 39% (30,859) of treatment episodes.
• Amphetamines (26% or 20,514 episodes) were the second most common principal drug of concern, followed by cannabis (17% or 13,287) (Figure VIC 2, Table ST VIC.6).

Figure VIC 2: Proportion of treatment episodes for own drug use, by drug of concern, Victoria, 2013–14 to 2022–23

In 2022–23, for clients who received treatment for their own use of amphetamines (20,514 episodes):

• Methamphetamine was reported as a principal drug of concern in nearly 7 in 10 (68% or 14,019) of treatment episodes (Figure VIC 3).
• Smoking was the most common method of use in 57% of episodes where methamphetamine was the principal drug of concern, followed by injecting (18%) (Figure VIC 3).

Victoria is working with service providers to encourage more specific reporting of amphetamine use (for example, to reduce the use of ‘amphetamines not further defined’ code where possible).

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

In 2019–20, Victoria reported comparatively high incidences of ‘Not stated drugs’ (15%) as the drug of concern. This proportion decreased in 2020–21 (2.1%), due to work with service providers by the Victorian Agency for Health Information to encourage more specific reporting of drug of concern. In 2022–23, this remains low, 4.6% of treatment episodes. For more information see the Data quality statement.

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 was the most common (6.9% of episodes), followed by alcohol and nicotine (4.5% and 4.0%, respectively) (Table ST VIC.7).

Over the period 2013–14 to 2022–23:

• Alcohol was the most common principal drug of concern for treatment episodes except in 2019–20 when amphetamines were the most common principal drug of concern (28% and 29% respectively):

• The proportion of episodes ranged from 41% in 2013–14 to 28% in 2019–20, before increasing to 39% in 2022–23.
• The number of episodes fell 26% from 21,259 in 2013–14 to 15,820 in 2014–15, before almost doubling to 30,859 episodes in 2022–23 (Figure VIC 2, Table ST VIC.7).

• Amphetamines were the second most common principal drug of concern for treatment episodes except in 2013–14 and 2014–15, when cannabis was the second most common principal drug of concern (21% and 22% respectively):
  • The proportion of episodes with a principal drug of concern for amphetamines increased from 16% in 2013–14 to peak at 30% in 2018–19, decreasing in 2022–23 (26%).
  • Within the amphetamines group, methamphetamine was reported as the principal drug of concern for the first time in 2014–15 (2.2% of episodes) followed by a large increase in 2018–19 (43%) and 2022–23 (68%) (Figure VIC 3).
  • The rise in episodes for methamphetamine is mainly due to improvements in agency coding practices for methamphetamine, although some of the increase in episodes could be related to increases in funded treatment services.
• The proportion of treatment episodes for cannabis decreased from 21% in 2013–14 to 17% in 2022–23 (Figure VIC 2, Table ST VIC.7).

Treatment

In 2022–23, for treatment episodes in Victoria (92,888 episodes):

• Counselling was the most common treatment type (23% of episodes) followed by support and case management and assessment only (both 22% of episodes) (Figure VIC 4; Table ST VIC.13). 
• The majority of services who submit AODTS NMDS data use the Victorian Alcohol and Drug Collection (VADC), which does not differentiate between main and other treatment types. A small proportion of services who submit AODTS NMDS data use their own data collection systems, which do differentiate between main and other treatment types.

Over the period from 2013–14 to 2022–23:

• Counselling remained one of the most common main treatments for all episodes in 2022–23 (23%), though this proportion has halved since 2013–14 (56%).
• Support and case management as a main treatment increased from 12% in 2013–14, peaking in 2015–16 (30%) and falling to 22% in 2022–23.
• Assessment only as a main treatment increased from 6.5% in 2013–14 to 22% in 2022–23.
• Withdrawal management decreased from 19% to 11% and ‘other’ treatment increased from 0.5% to 17% over the same period (Figure VIC 4, Table ST VIC.13). 

Increases in ‘other’ treatment in Victoria relate to additional funding for programs where the main treatment type was categorised as ‘other’. This includes other types of services coded through the VADC collection (which started in 2018), these may not align with the main treatment types.

Figure VIC 4: Proportion of treatment episodes, by treatment type, Victoria, 2013–14 to 2022–23 

Agencies

In 2022–23, in Victoria:

• Only 3 of the 350 AOD agencies that received public funding were government treatment agencies.
• Almost 3 in 5 (59%) treatment agencies were located in Major cities, followed by Inner regional areas (29%) (Figure VIC 5; Table Agcy.3)
• Victoria does not have any areas classified as Remote or Very remote.

In the period from 2013–14 to 2022–23, the number of publicly funded treatment agencies in Victoria increased from 130 in 2013–14 to 404 in 2018–19, dropping to 350 in 2022–23 (Table Agcy.1).

The increase in agency numbers over time in Victoria is attributed to counting each location of a service delivery outlet, which may be located in different areas for a single agency.

Figure VIC 5: Number of agencies, by remoteness area and sector, Victoria, 2022–23