Alcohol and other drug treatment services in Australia annual report

Treatment referrals are part of interventions that aim to reduce immediate or short-term harms from alcohol and other drug (AOD) use, engage and support people affected, and connect people to treatment services where required. As part of care, case management co-ordination involves ongoing treatment planning, goal setting, review and facilitation for the client to achieve their goals, including a supported referral and system navigation support to other services. It includes ensuring links are made with health or social welfare services, and that care is coordinated across care settings and systems (Department of Health and Aged Care 2019).

In 2022–23, for all clients (235,461 episodes):

• The most common source of referral into treatment was self/family (36% or 85,362 episodes) followed by health services (32% or 74,163 episodes):
  • This referral pattern into treatment was consistent for most treatment types.
  • Health services were the most common referral source for information and education (54%), other treatment (39%), and assessment only (34%) (Table Trt.11).
• Diversion referrals fell from 16% in 2013–14 to 8.4% in 2022–23 over the same period (Table Trt.11). 
• There a referral came from an ‘other’ referral source, treatment episodes increased from 7.4% (12630) in 2013–14 to 16% (34,795) in 2019–2020, then decreased to 13% (27,410) in 2022–23.

The most common referrals into treatment for a client’s own alcohol or drug use (217,303 episodes) and someone else’s alcohol or drug use (18,158 episodes) were similar in 2022–23: 

• Self/family (36%) was most common for a client’s own alcohol or drug use, followed by health service (31%).
• Self/family (35%) was most common for clients who received treatment for someone else’s alcohol or drug use, followed by health services (33%) (tables Trt.10, Trt.11).
• Diversion (19,593 episodes) referrals into treatment were most common for a client’s own alcohol or drug use, such as ecstasy (33%), cocaine (23%), and cannabis (21%) (Table Drg.13).

Over the 10-year period to 2022–23, treatment episodes where the referral source was:

• Self/family referrals decreased from 43% (or 77,784) in 2013–14 to 36% (or 85,362) in 2022–23.
• Health services increased from 25% (or 46,052) to 32% (or 74,163) over this time (tables Trt.10, Trt.11). 

The source of referral into treatment varied according to clients’ principal drug of concern. For example, in the 10 years to 2022–23, among episodes for a client’s own alcohol or drug use (217,303 episodes) (Figure TREATMENT 1, Table Drg.13):

• Where alcohol was the principal drug of concern, referrals from health service increased from 31% (or 21,698) in 2013–14 to 37% (34,607) in 2022–23.
• Where amphetamines were the principal drug of concern, referrals from a health service increased from 21% (or 6,115) to 26% (or 13,303), while self/family referrals decreased from 43% (or 12,364) to 36% (or 18,938).
• Where cannabis was the principal drug of concern, the proportion of diversion (police or court diversion program) referrals into treatment increased from 2013–14 (33% or 13,349) to 2014–15 (38% or 14,919) before falling to 21% (7,990) in 2022–23.

Figure TREATMENT 1: Treatment episodes for own drug use, by principal drug of concern and referral source, 2013–14 to 2022–23