New South Wales

In 2020–21, 485 publicly funded alcohol and other drug treatment agencies in New South Wales provided over 51,800 treatment episodes to around 32,500 clients (tables ST NSW.1, Agcy.1, SCR.21).

New South Wales reported:

  • the number of treatment episodes remained relatively stable between 2019–20 and 2020–21 (51,500 and 51,800 episodes, respectively), although there has been a 35% increase in treatment episodes over the 10 years since 2011–12 (38,300 episodes) (Table ST NSW.2)
  • more clients are using AOD services in 2020–21 than 2013–14, after adjusting for population growth (453 clients per 100,000 population compared with 372 per 100,000, respectively)
  • client numbers have increased from 24,200 in 2013–14 to 32,500 in 2020–21 (Table SCR.21).

The visualisation shows that 51,451 closed treatment episodes were provided to an estimated 31,549 clients in New South Wales in 2019–20. This equates to a rate of 723 episodes and 443 clients per 100,000 population, which is lower than the national rate (1,064 episodes and 624 clients per 100,000 population).

In 2020–21, most clients in New South Wales attended 1 agency (78% of clients) (Table SCR.23). Clients received an average of 1.6 treatment episodes each, similar to the national average (1.7 episodes each) (Table SCR.21).

Client demographics

In 2020–21:

  • 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 (65%) (Figure NSW1)
  • people who received treatment or support for someone else’s alcohol or drug use were more likely to be female than male (59% of female clients compared with 40% of male clients)
  • one in 2 (50%) people were aged 20–39 years
  • almost 1 in 5 (19%) of all clients identified as Indigenous Australians. This is consistent with the national proportion (17%)
  • the majority (87%) of all people were born in Australia and nearly all (97%) reported English as their preferred language (tables SC.4, SC NSW.1–3, SC NSW.21–22).

The visualisation includes a series of horizontal bar graphs showing that, in 2019–20, nearly all (98%) clients in New South Wales received treatment for their own drug use. Of these clients, around two-thirds (66%) were male, 52% were aged 20–39, and 18% were Indigenous Australians. Nearly all clients (97%) listed English as their preferred language and most (87%) were born in Australia.

Patterns of service use

Over the period 2016–17 to 2020–21, 102,900 clients received treatment in New South Wales (Table SCR.28). Of these clients:

  • the majority received treatment in a single year (71%):
    • 18% (18,200) received treatment for the first time in 2020–21
    • a further 53% (54,900) received treatment in only one of the four collection periods (excluding 2020–21)
  • 19% (19,500) of clients received treatment in any 2 of the 5 years
  • 6.8% (7,000) of clients received treatment in any 3 of the 5 years
  • 2.5% (2,600) of clients received treatment in any 4 of the 5 years
  • 0.7% (730) of clients received treatment in all 5 collection years (Table SCR.28).

Drugs of concern

In 2020–21, for clients in New South Wales receiving treatment episodes for their own alcohol or drug use:

  • alcohol was the most common principal drug of concern (41% or 20,686 episodes)
  • amphetamines as a principal drug of concern accounted for over 1 in 5 episodes (23% or 11,474), followed by cannabis (16% or 8,277) (Figure NSW2; Table ST NSW.6).

The grouped horizontal bar chart shows that, in 2020–21, alcohol was the most common principal drug of concern in treatment episodes provided to clients in New South Wales for their own drug use (40.6%). This was followed by amphetamines (22.5%), cannabis (16.3%), and heroin (6.9%). Nicotine and cannabis were the most common additional drugs of concern (10% and 9.9% of episodes, respectively), followed by amphetamines (6.9%) and alcohol (6.1%).

In 2020–21, for clients receiving treatment for their own use of amphetamines:

  • methamphetamine was reported as a principal drug of concern in 93% of treatment episodes (Table Drg.4)
  • in over half (53%) of the treatment episodes where methamphetamine was the principal drug of concern, smoking was the most common method of use, followed by injecting (37%) (Figures NSW3a, 3b).

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).   

The line graph shows that, between 2011–12 and 2020–21, methamphetamine has remained the most common drug of concern among amphetamine-related treatment episodes for clients’ own drug use. The proportion of methamphetamine-related episodes increased from 45.1% of amphetamine-related episodes in 2011–12 to 92.6% in 2020–21.

The stacked horizontal bar chart shows the method of use for treatment episodes related to clients’ own use of methamphetamine, amphetamine, amphetamines not further defined, and other amphetamines in New South Wales in 2020–21. Smoking was the most common method of use across all amphetamine codes (ranging from 37.5% to 52.6% of episodes).

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 2020–21, when the client reported additional drugs of concern:

  • nicotine and cannabis were the most common additional drugs of concern (10% of episodes each), followed by amphetamines (6.9%) and alcohol (6.1%) (Table ST NSW.7).

Over the period 2011–12 to 2020–21:

  • alcohol treatment episodes showed a variance in treatment activity during this time, but remain the top drug of concern, fluctuating from 17,786 to 20,686 over this period; however, the actual proportion of treatment episodes has gradually declined from 47% to 41%, relative to the number of other principal drugs of concern
  • amphetamines were the second most common principal drug of concern in 2020–21 and have increased since 2011–12 (from 11% or 4,043 episodes to 23% or 11,474 episodes) (ST NSW.6)
    • within the amphetamines group, methamphetamine was reported as the principal drug of concern in almost half (45%) of episodes in 2011–12, rising to 63% in 2017–18 before a considerable increase to 93% in 2020–21 (Figure NSW3a); the rise in episodes may be related to increases in funded treatment services and/or improvement in agency coding practices for methamphetamines (Table ST NSW.6)
  • cannabis is now the third most common principal drug of concern, decreasing from 20% to 16% in 2020–21 (ST NSW.6)
  • these trends are consistent with the national picture (Table Drg.1).

Treatment

In 2020–21, for treatment episodes in New South Wales:

  • counselling was the most common main treatment provided (40% of episodes), followed by withdrawal management, and support and case management (both 14%)
  • where an additional treatment was provided as a supplementary to the main treatment, ‘other’ treatment (8.0%) was the most common followed by counselling (6.8%) (Table ST NSW.13). See technical notes for further information on calculating proportions for additional treatment type.

Over the period 2011–12 to 2020–21:

  • counselling remained the most common treatment type for all episodes and showed a variance in treatment activity, rising from 31% (11,729 episodes) in 2011–12 to 42% (16,090) in 2016–17, dropping to 40% (20,722) in 2020–21, relative to the other treatment types
  • treatment episodes for withdrawal management fluctuated over the 10-year period from 6,933 in 2011–12 peaking in 2017–18 (8,232) before decreasing in 2020–21 (7,450 episodes) (Table ST NSW.13, NSW.15).

The grouped horizontal bar chart shows that, in 2020–21, the most common main treatment type provided to clients in New South Wales for their own drug use was counselling (40.0% of episodes). This was followed by withdrawal management (14.4%) and support and case management (14.1%).  ‘Other’ was the most common additional treatment type (8.0%), followed by counselling (6.8%).

Agencies

In 2020–21, in New South Wales:

  • over 6 in 10 (62%) AOD agencies were government treatment agencies
  • the majority (62%) of the 485 publicly funded treatment agencies were located in Major cities, followed by Inner regional areas (31%)
  • agencies located in Major cities provided almost 7 in 10 (69%) of all treatment episodes  
  • less than 1% of treatment agencies were located in Remote/Very remote areas – these provided less than 1% of all treatment episodes (28 episodes)
  • across all remoteness areas, the majority of agencies were government agencies, ranging from 60% in Major cities to 100% in Very remote areas (Figure NSW5; tables Agcy.1, Agcy.3–4).

In the period 2011–12 to 2020–21, the number of publicly funded treatment agencies in New South Wales rose from 263 to 485 (Table Agcy.1).

The horizontal bar chart shows that most treatment agencies in New South Wales in 2020–21 were located in Major cities (303 agencies), followed by Inner regional areas (148 agencies) and Outer regional areas (31 agencies). Relatively fewer treatment agencies were located in Remote and Very remote areas (3 agencies). Of the total 485 treatment agencies, most (301 agencies) were government agencies.