WAITING GAME
THE
A U S T R A L I A’S CA PA C I TY C R U N C H F O R R E S I D E N T I A L T R E AT M E N T
People seeking treatment for problematic drug use at residential facilities are facing significant backlogs in several states and territories across Australia, leading to worries about how delayed treatment affects people’s lives and calls for more funding.
The issue has been well publicised in Victoria, where the Victorian Alcohol and Drug Association (VAADA) has registered rising waitlists for all types of treatment, with the residential treatment backlog spiking from 230 people in September 2020 to 452 in December 2021. Other states have not produced similarly dramatic headlines – due in part to spotty data – but expressions of concern are common. In the ACT, for example, there is no centralised waitlist, but according to Dr Devon Bowles, CEO of the Alcohol Tobacco and Other Drug Association ACT (ATODA), ‘demand for drug services in the ACT is probably around double the availability of places.’ 4
Michael White, executive director of the South Australian Network of Drug and Alcohol Services, notes that in his state ‘it’s very hard to compute [the data]; people disengage at the initial contact point when told there will be a week or a month’s wait. This means that there is likely to be a degree of unmet and unmeasured need.’ Although the issue precedes the Covid-19 pandemic, the implementation of social distancing guidelines led to services operating with significantly reduced staff, which worsened capacity shortfalls – just as demand for treatment spiked. According to analysis by the Australian Institute for Health and Welfare, treatment episodes at residential treatment facilities declined markedly, a shift that, in most states, was attributable to reduced capacity. This crunch occurred just as lockdown pressures led to increases in demand for residential treatment. Clinics in New South Wales reported growing waitlists for alcohol and substance abuse treatment programs, while the Alcohol, 3
