Patterns of service use
Over the period 2015–16 to 2019–20, 13,559 clients received treatment in the Australian Capital Territory. Of these clients:
- the majority received treatment in a single year (72%):
- 17% (2,306) received treatment for the first time in 2019–20
- a further 55% (7,448) received treatment in only one of the four collection periods (excluding 2019–20)
- 17% (2,277) of clients received treatment in any 2 of the 5 years
- 6.4% (874) of clients received treatment in any 3 of the 5 years
- 3.5% (475) of clients received treatment in any 4 of the 5 years
- 1.3% (176) of clients received treatment in all 5 collection years (Table SCR.28).
Drugs of concern
In 2019–20, for clients in the Australian Capital Territory receiving treatment episodes for their own alcohol or drug use:
- alcohol was the most common principal drug of concern for clients (42% of episodes) (Figure 26; Tables SE ACT.10)
- amphetamines were also common as a principal drug, accounting for just under one-quarter (23%), followed by cannabis (11%), and heroin (10%);
- within the amphetamines group:
- methamphetamine was reported as a principal drug of concern in 9 in 10 (90%) treatment episodes (Figure 26a)
- in almost half (47%) of the treatment episodes where methamphetamine was the principal drug of concern smoking was the most common method of use, followed by injecting (40%) (Figure 26b).
Some jurisdictions are working with service providers to encourage more specific reporting of amphetamine use (i.e. to reduce the use of ‘amphetamines not further defined’ code where possible).
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 2019–20, when the client reported additional drugs of concern:
- cannabis was the most common additional drug (15%), followed by nicotine (14%) and alcohol and amphetamines (both 8%) (Table SE ACT.11).
Over the period 2015–16 to 2019–20:
- alcohol remained the most common principal drug of concern in episodes provided to clients, remaining stable between 2015–16 and 2019–20 (42%) (Table SE ACT.10)
- amphetamines decreased from 25% in 2016–17 to 23% in 2019–20
- within the amphetamines group, methamphetamine was reported as the principal drug of concern in 69% of episodes in 2015–16, rising to 89% in 2019–20 (Figure 26a)
- the rise in episodes may be related increases in funded treatment services and/or improvement in agency coding practices for methamphetamines
- the proportion of closed episodes for cannabis as the principal drug of concern has steadily declined from 2015–16 (15% to 11%)
- the proportion of closed episodes for heroin as a principal drug of concern over the period was higher than the national proportion (ranging from 9% to 11% in ACT; compared with 6% to 5% nationally) (Table SD.2).