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Alcohol and drug misuse prevention, treatment and recovery guidance

Information and other resources to support commissioners, service providers and others providing alcohol and drug interventions.

Updates to this page

From:
Office for Health Improvement and Disparities
Published:
20 December 2017
Last updated:
11 December 2025
Show all updates

  1. Added 'Co-occurring mental health and substance use: delivery framework'

  2. Added 'Clinical guidelines for alcohol treatment' to the clinical guidelines section.

  3. Added 'Continuity of care from prison to community: self-assessment tool' and 'Residential drug and alcohol treatment: self-assessment toolkit' to the section 'Guidance for commissioners'.

  4. Added a link to a survey of the drug and alcohol treatment and recovery workforce in the 'Workforce development' section.

  5. Added a link to relevant resources in the 'Workforce development' section.

  6. Added 'Recovery support services and lived experience initiatives' to new group 'Recovery support services and lived experience initiatives guidance'. Also, added 'Commissioning quality standard: alcohol and drug services' under 'Guidance for commissioners'.

  7. Added 'Community pharmacy: delivering substance misuse services'.

  8. Added a link to the Health Education England drug and alcohol workforce census 2022.

  9. Added 'Substance misuse: providing remote and in-person interventions'.

  10. Added new group: Opioid substitution treatment good practice resources.

  11. Added 'Parents with alcohol and drug problems: support resources', 'Opioid substitution treatment: guide for keyworkers' and 'Opioid substitution treatment: service self-assessment tool'.

  12. Added 'Injectable opioid treatment: commissioning and providing services'.

  13. Added some new groups and publications: "COVID-19: guidance for commissioners and providers of services for people who use drugs or alcohol", "ASSIST-Lite screening tool: how to use", and links to NHS alcohol brief advice tool and cannabis health check-up tool in "Drug and alcohol screening and treatment tools" section.

  14. Added 'Prescribed medicines review: report'.

  15. Added 'Alcohol's harm to others'.

  16. Added publications to new 'Guidance for health and care professionals' section.

  17. Added case studies to new 'Support for substance misuse and mental health problems' section.

  18. Added 'Crack cocaine increase: inquiry findings'.

  19. Added 'Safeguarding children affected by parental alcohol and drug use'.

  20. Added 'Alcohol treatment inquiry: summary of findings'.

  21. Added Fentanyl: safety recommendations for first responders.

  22. Added Continuity of care for prisoners who need substance misuse treatment.

  23. Added Drug health harms: national intelligence.

  24. Added Developing pathways for alcohol treatment.

  25. Added Parental alcohol and drug use: understanding the problem.

  26. Added 'Fentanyl: preparing for a future threat' to the collection.

  27. Created a new group 'Preventing ill health from alcohol misuse' and added publications.

  28. Added Alcohol and drug prevention, treatment and recovery: why invest?

  29. First published.

Healthcare professionals can use these guidance documents, information and resources to help with providing and improving alcohol and drug misuse prevention, treatment and recovery services.

Visit Preventing and reducing drug related harm for information and other resources to help alcohol and drug service providers reduce harm and prevent deaths related to substance misuse.

Visit Alcohol and drugs evidence reviews and inquiries for reports on evidence reviews and the outcomes of inquiries around substance misuse, smoking and vaping, and gambling.

Visit Alcohol and drug misuse and treatment statistics for reports and data sets on the prevalence and treatment of alcohol and drug misuse treatment in England.

Clinical guidelines

Alcohol and drug treatment guidance

Guidance for commissioners

Recovery support services and lived experience initiatives guidance

Drug and alcohol screening and treatment tools

Guidance for health and care professionals

Substance misuse and mental health

Alcohol and tobacco use in hospital patients

Workforce development

NHS England and OHID have published a:

  • 10-year strategic plan for the drug and alcohol treatment and recovery workforce
  • capability framework for the drug and alcohol treatment and recovery workforce

You can find these and the results of the national workforce census at the Drug and Alcohol Treatment and Recovery Workforce Programme webpage.

Ipsos conducted a survey of the drug and alcohol treatment and recovery workforce.

You can also find guidance published by other organisations on the role of social workers and the role of clinical psychologists.

Parental substance misuse

Opioid substitution treatment: good practice resources

The Best practice in Optimising Opioid Substitution Treatment (BOOST) e-learning programme provides drug treatment and recovery professionals with the information they need to deliver good quality opioid substitution treatment to service users.

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