'Shameful' budget cuts by Hartlepool Borough Council slammed by national substance misuse provider

Treatment experts UK Addiction Team (UKAT) called the local authority ‘heartless’ after reducing its substance misuse treatment budget from just over £3.2 million in 2016/17 to £2.4 million this year.

Meanwhile, the number of drug related deaths in the area rose by 60% since 2016 from 10 to 16 in 2019.

And over the same time period, alcohol-related hospital admissions increased 23% from 2,690 in 2016/17 to their highest ever recorded to 3,306 in 2018/19.

Hartlepool Borough Council says it has been forced to make savings after successive cuts to its Public Health budget, but insists the quality of its drug and alcohol treatment has not been affected.

“We strongly refute this criticism from UKAT and cannot understand why Hartlepool Borough Council specifically has been targeted,” said a spokesman.

UKAT’s group treatment lead Nuno Albuquerque said: “We get no joy from calling out Hartlepool Borough Council. We do not want to do this, but enough is enough. The numbers speak for themselves.

"It is abhorrent that as the number of people living across Hartlepool die from drugs and alcohol rises, the amount of money spent on trying to save them reduces. How can this be OK?”

In 2018, Public Health England urged local authorities to invest in drug and alcohol treatment and interventions.

It said providing well-funded services represent good value for money because it cuts crime, improves health, and can support individuals and families on the road to recovery.

UKAT accused Hartlepool council of not listening to the guidance and added addiction can affect anyone at any time.

"We urge Hartlepool Borough Council to not make the same mistake again next year, and to instead, show heart and support those most vulnerable living in their local communities,” it said.

In September the council announced the launch of a new integrated drug and alcohol treatment service in a partnership with Teesside organisation Foundations.

Responding to the criticism, a Hartlepool Borough Council spokesman said: “For a number of successive years the Government has reduced our Public Health grant, which funds the provision of drug and alcohol treatment services.

"These grant cuts meant that savings had to be made across all services funded by this grant and this included our substance misuse service.

"We made these savings by reducing the number of external providers we commissioned and bringing some elements of the service in-house – without affecting the quality of the service we provide.

“Over the past three years we have made no budget cuts to the service, nor are there any planned for next year, and we have actually made further improvements to the service by commissioning a new clinical provider from September 2020.

"In the last three months a significant amount of work has been undertaken with our new provider to further improve the service including a clinical review of all clients, a service restructure to enhance the support provided and the development of a mobile harm reduction service that will commence in the new year.”

Confidential support for drug and alcohol abuse and a list of local treatment facilities can be found at https://www.ukat.co.uk/

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