Cuts to Addiction Services Infographic

In this guest blog post, we feature a guest post by Paul Harrold. Paul is an addiction worker at an alcohol rehab in London known as Cassiobury Court. Paul’s infographic is titled “cuts to addiction services in England and Wales since 2012”. The infographic discuss Government cuts to addiction services since 2012. Addiction is unarguably stigmatised, and cutting this budget has thus been low hanging fruit for those bent on austerity. The infographic aims to inform the public about these cuts and to help remove the stigma surrounding addiction.

The infographic explains that the cuts started to take hold when the Health and Social Care Act 2012 became law. Under the terms of the Act, the administration of addiction services was transferred away from local NHS Trusts and into the hands of local councils.

Sadly, this law effectively wiped out year-on-year decreases in drug-related deaths. In 2016, drug-related deaths are now at an all-time high, and even higher than in 1993 when the Office of National Statistics first began collecting this type of data.