Residential Rehab Outcomes Project

For people with long-standing drug/alcohol dependency problems who want to become drug free, residential rehabilitation is a vital component of the treatment system.

There is good evidence that, combined with aftercare, these services are effective. There is less evidence that the overall residential treatment system is effective. The structure of the market does not ensure that the best houses remain open; that clients get into the rehab that best meets their needs nor that the taxpayer gets the best outcomes for their investment.

Even with the decision by CSCI to publish star ratings (for England), Care Managers have very limited information about how rehabs compare and what they actually achieve for clients; this information gap undermines the effectiveness of this corner of the substance misuse field.

The Rehab Outcomes Project is under development to address this need. We aim to improve the effectiveness of residential rehabilitation in the UK by collating and sharing information about the outcomes, effectiveness and quality of these important services.