Trends in drop out, drug free discharge and rates of re-presentation: a retrospective cohort study of drug treatment clients in the North West of England

Table 4 Episodic drug treatment outcome (discharged drug free and drop out) by referral source

Year of treatment outcome	Referral source	Outcome of treatment episode
		All episodes				Episodes for people not in treatment the previous year
		Discharged drug free		Dropped out		Discharged drug free		Dropped out
		N	%	N	%	N	%	N	%
1998	Criminal Justice	11	30.6	25	69.4	--	--	--	--
	Non-Criminal Justice	292	43.5	380	56.5	--	--	--	--
	Within year comparison	P = 0.128				--
1999	Criminal Justice	33	37.5	55	62.5	16	27.6	42	72.4
	Non-Criminal Justice	444	59.6	301	40.4	172	66.7	86	33.3
	Within year comparison	P < 0.001				P < 0.001
2000/01*	Criminal Justice	20	15.5	109	84.5	11	12.9	74	87.1
	Non-Criminal Justice	272	41.9	377	58.1	142	40.5	209	59.5
	Within year comparison	P < 0.001				P < 0.001
2001/02	Criminal Justice	25	14.0	153	86.0	18	15.1	101	84.9
	Non-Criminal Justice	335	30.9	749	69.1	167	28.7	414	71.3
	Within year comparison	P < 0.001				P = 0.002

*Reporting changed from UK calendar to financial year to adhere to new national requirements.
1998 was the first year of analysis. It is therefore not possible to differentiate between 'all episodes' and 'episodes for people not in treatment the previous year' for this annual cohort.

ISSN: 1471-2458