Completion of treatment

Reasons for clients who no longer received treatment from an alcohol and other drug (AOD) treatment service include:

  • expected completions (for example, treatment program completed)
  • unplanned completions (for example, the client ceased to participate in the treatment program without notice)
  • administrative completion (for example, client transferred to another service provider) (see Key terminology and Glossary).

In 2023–24, among treatment episodes for a client’s own alcohol or drug use (219,277 episodes):

  • 3 in 5 (59%, 131,289) treatment episodes ended as expected (planned) completions.
  • 1 in 5 (20%, 43,539) of treatment episodes ended due to an unplanned completion (Table Trt.8).

This pattern differed slightly for clients who received treatment for someone else’s alcohol or drug use (21,681 episodes). The proportion of treatment episodes that ended due to unplanned completion was lower (9%, 1,963) than for a client’s own alcohol or drug use (Figure COMPLETION 1, Table Trt.8).

Figure COMPLETION 1: Treatment episodes, by client type and reason for completion, 2014–15 to 2023–24

Stacked horizontal bar graph shows that treatment episodes in 2023–24 by reason for cessation and client type. Data is filtered by year.

Stacked horizontal bar graph shows that treatment episodes in 2023–24 by reason for cessation and client type. Data is filtered by year.

In 2023–24, completion of treatment for a client’s own alcohol or drug use (219,277 episodes) varied by principal drug of concern. For example, treatment episodes for:

  • The most common principal drugs of concern had expected completions ranging from 52% (30,119) for amphetamines to 66% (22,446) for cannabis.
  • Volatile solvents and nicotine (both 72%, 304 and 1,386, respectively) as the principal drugs of concern had the highest proportion of episodes ending with an expected completion.
  • Amphetamines had the highest proportion of episodes for unplanned completions (25%, 14,310), followed by, codeine and morphine (both 21%, 67 and 91, respectively) (Table Drg.14, Figure COMPLETION 2).

Figure COMPLETION 2: Treatment episodes for selected drugs, by principal drug of concern and reason for completion, 2014–15 to 2023–24

Stacked horizontal bar chart shows reason for cessation by principal drug of concern in 2023–24. Data is filtered by year.

Stacked horizontal bar chart shows reason for cessation by principal drug of concern in 2023–24. Data is filtered by year.

Over the 10 years to 2023–24, for a client’s own alcohol or drug use (219,277 episodes), the proportion of treatment episodes that ended in an expected completion decreased overall, falling by 4 percentage points to 60% (131,289) (Table Ov.7):

  • Where alcohol was the principal drug of concern, 3 in 5 episodes ended with an expected completion (ranging from 62% to 66% between 2014–15 and 2023–24).
  • Where amphetamines were the principal drug of concern, the proportion of treatment episodes with an expected completion decreased from a peak of 62% (28,724) in 2015–16 to 52% (30,119) in 2023–24.
  • Where cannabis was the principal drug of concern, the proportion of treatment episodes with an expected completion decreased from a peak of 73% (30,521) in 2016–17 to 66% (22,446) in 2023–24.
  • Where heroin was the principal drug of concern, the proportion of treatment episodes with an expected completion ranged between 53% and 61% between 2014–15 and 2023–24 (Table Drg.12).

Over the 10 years to 2023–24 for someone else’s alcohol or drug use (21,681 episodes):

  • The proportion of treatment episodes with an expected completion fell from 65% (5,246) in 2014–15 to 43% (9,401) in 2023–24.
  • Conversely, ‘other’ as a reason for ceasing treatment increased from 17% (1,330) in 2014–15 to 44% (9,456) in 2023–24 (Table Ov.7).
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