Alcohol and other drug treatment services in Australia annual report 2023–24

In 2023–24, 189 publicly funded alcohol and other drug (AOD) treatment agencies in Queensland provided 51,979 treatments to 34,302 clients (tables Agcy.1, SCR.21).

Queensland reported:

• Client numbers increased from 28,960 in 2013–14 to 34,302 in 2023–24. There was a 5.6% decrease between 2022–23 and 2023–24 from 36,331 to 34,302.
• Fewer clients are receiving AOD services in 2023–24 than 2013–14, after adjusting for population growth (702 clients per 100,000 people compared with 714, respectively) (Table SCR.21).
• There was a 2.4% decrease in treatment episodes from 53,280 in 2022–23 to 51,979 in 2023–24, and a 34% increase since 2014–15 (38,923) (Table ST QLD.2).

In 2023–24, most (84%) clients in Queensland attended 1 agency, and received an average of 1.5 treatment episodes, which is lower than the national average of 1.8 treatment episodes (tables SCR.21, SCR.23).

Client demographics

In 2023–24:

• Nearly all (98%) clients in Queensland received treatment for their own alcohol or drug use, of which 3 in 5 (61%) people were male (Figure QLD 1).
• Clients who received treatment for someone else’s alcohol or drug use were more likely to be female (69%).
• Half (47%) of people were aged 20–39 years, and 10% were aged 10–19 years which is higher than the national proportion for clients aged 10–19 years (8.3%).
• 1 in 5 (21%) of all clients were Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander (First Nations) people, which is higher than the national proportion (18%).
• The majority (89%) of all clients were born in Australia and nearly all (99%) reported English as their preferred language (tables SCR QLD.1–4, SCR QLD.9–10, SC.5, SC.3).

New and returning clients

In 2023–24, of all clients in Queensland there was a similar proportion of both returning and new clients:

• About half (48% 16,383) of all clients were a new client, who had not previously received treatment since 2013–14.
• Around half (52%,17,762) of all clients were returning clients, who have previously received AOD treatment from a service at some point since 2013–14 (see Key terminology and glossary) (Table SCR 28).

Drugs of concern

In 2023–24, among clients in Queensland receiving treatment episodes for their own alcohol or drug use (51,110):

• Alcohol was the most common principal drug of concern (40%, 20,394 episodes) (Figure QLD 2, Table ST QLD.6).
• Amphetamines were the second most common principal drugs of concern in Queensland (26%, 13,216), followed by cannabis (18%, 9,009)
• In Queensland, the level of cannabis reported as the principal drug of concern is a result of the police and illicit drug court diversion programs operating in the state (Table ST QLD.12).

In 2023–24, for clients who received treatment for their own use of amphetamines (13,216 episodes):

• Methamphetamine was reported as a principal drug of concern in 9 in 10 (91%) treatment episodes (Figure QLD 3, Table ST QLD.6).
• In almost half (46%) of treatment episodes where methamphetamine was the principal drug of concern, injecting was the most common method of use, followed by smoking (40%) (Figure QLD 3, Table ST QLD.10).

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).

Where additional drugs of concern were reported, cannabis was the most common additional drug (6.1% of episodes), followed by alcohol (3.5%), amphetamines (3.4%) and nicotine (3.4%) (Table ST QLD.7).

Over the period 2014–15 to 2023–24:

• Cannabis was the was the most common principal drug of concern until 2018–19, when it was replaced by alcohol as the most common principal drug of concern.
  • The proportion of episodes for alcohol as a principal drug of concern increased from 34% in 2014–15 to 40% in 2023–24, relative to all other principal drugs of concern. However, the number of treatment episodes almost doubled over this period from 12,917 to 20,394 (Table ST QLD.7).
• Cannabis was the second most common principal drug of concern, with treatment episodes increasing from 36% in 2014–15, peaking at 39% in 2015–16 and falling to 18% in 2023–24. From 2014–15 to 2023–24, treatment episodes decreased from 13,559 to 9,009.
• The proportion of episodes for amphetamines as a principal drug of concern increased since 2014–15 (15% to 26%), with the number of treatment episodes increasing from 5,711 to 13,216 over this period.
  • Within the amphetamines group, methamphetamine was reported as the principal drug of concern in 44% of episodes in 2013–14, rising to 65% in 2015–16, then 91% in 2023–24 (Figure QLD 3).
  • The rise in episodes where methamphetamine was the principal drug of concern is likely to be related to both increases in funded treatment services and improvements in agency coding practices for methamphetamine.
• The proportion of treatment episodes in Queensland where cannabis was the principal drug of concern was higher than the national proportion in 2023–24 (18% compared with 16%) (Table Drg.1). This trend has been consistent for the 10-year period.

Treatment

In 2023–24, for treatment episodes in Queensland (51,979):

• Assessment only was the most common main treatment (39%), followed by counselling (37%) (Figure QLD 4).
• The proportion of episodes for information and education as a main treatment dropped 18 percentage points from 2019–20 (21%) to 2023–24 (3.3%). This was due to a review of coding practices which resulted a large proportion of episodes previously coded as information and education being coded as counselling (Table ST QLD.13).
• Where an additional treatment was provided as supplementary to the main treatment, support and case management (1.9%) was also the most common type of additional treatment, followed by information and education (1.2%). See technical notes for further information on calculating proportions for additional treatment type.

Over the period 2014–15 to 2023–24:

• The proportion of main treatment episodes where counselling was the main treatment type increased from 31% in 2014–15 to 37% in 2023–24. Counselling replaced information and education as the most common treatment between 2016–17 and 2022–23.
• Assessment only became the most common main treatment type in 2023-24 (39% of episodes), an increase from 17% in 2014–15.
• The proportion of withdrawal management as a main treatment type decreased from 8.4% to 4.3% in 2023–24.
• The proportion of information and education as a main treatment decreased from 33% in 2014–15 to 3.3% in 2023–24.

Agencies

In 2023–24, in Queensland:

• 7 in 10 (70%) AOD agencies were non-government treatment agencies (Table Agcy.1).
• Almost half (46%) of the 189 treatment agencies were located in Major cities, followed by Outer regional (24%) and Inner regional (20%) areas.
• 1 in 10 (11%) of all government treatment agencies were located in Remote and Very remote areas (Figure QLD 5; Table Agcy.3).

In the 10 years to 2023–24, the number of publicly funded treatment agencies in Queensland steadily increased from 177 in 2014–15 to 194 in 2019–20, falling to 189 in 2023–24. The recent change in agency numbers is attributed to a review of the agency coding structure in the public sector. As a result, there have been significant agency identifier changes which have been constructed to align with the Queensland Health Corporate Reference Database System, providing a more accurate representation of number of agencies reporting at the service outlet level (Table Agcy.1).