Why are treatment data important?
An accurate and complete treatment database can:
- identify patterns of drug and alcohol use and risk behaviours;
- explore patterns of service utilisation;
- provide information for evidence-based service planning, including obtaining and justifying funding and personnel;
- analyse trends in treated problem alcohol and drug use over time.
The NDTRS is the only comprehensive source of national data on treated problem drug and alcohol use. The data are reported nationally to the HSE and the Department of Health, as well as internationally to the European Union Drugs Agency (EUDA) and the World Health Organisation.
Who should participate in the NDTRS?
Treatment data are provided by publicly funded addiction treatment services, including residential centres, community-based addiction services, prison services as well as general practice. This includes drugs and alcohol treatment but can also be for other addictions including gambling, gaming or other functional addictions.
Treatment includes medication such as opioid agonist therapy (OAT), counselling, group therapy, psychotherapy and/or life skills training.
What type of data are collected?
For each relevant service user, data on socio-demographics, history of drug use, main problem, any additional problems, risk factors related to injecting (if applicable), type of treatment provided, and treatment outcome is collected.
How NDTRS data is collected
The NDTRS data are collected through a live online portal called LINK.
Contact
If you would like more information or think your service should be reporting data to the NDTRS, please contact the team at: ndtrs@hrb.ie