Treatment demand is the highest standardised monitoring indicator developed by the European Monitoring Centre for Drugs and Drug Addiction (EMCDDA). The goal of implementing the system of data collection on drug-related treatment demand obligatory for outpatient and inpatient health centres is to monitor the epidemiology situation of the drug problem in a reliable manner. Getting to know the drug scene and its dynamics allows us to track the trends, foresee the changes and prevent them. It also allows us to respond to the issue through the creation of adequate social and health policy.
The current Polish system for collecting treatment data, in particular data about people seeking drug-related treatment does not comply with the requirements of the European Monitoring Centre for Drugs and Drug Addiction (EMCDDA) mainly because the data comes from inpatient health centres only. Moreover, in a number of cases, the information about the primary drug, which is the key substance causing problems to the patient, is not precise and the information about the route of administration and frequency of using drugs is often missing. Due to the above, the Information Centre started implementing a new statistical system matching the European standards.
The collection of data in the new monitoring system on drug-related treatment demand commenced in 2008 and is being carried out as part of a pilot study. The aim of the study is to identify the most frequent issues in completing the questionnaires and verify that the data collection tools are correct. Currently, the participants of the project include clinics with the status of public health centre units (ZOZ), which provide drug-related treatment and rehabilitation, health centres for drug users, addiction centres (providing services for individuals addicted to drugs or alcohol), detoxification wards and other hospital wards for drug users, substitution treatment programmes and rehabilitation centres for drug users.
The latest data on patients in inpatient clinics come from the year 2008 and was collected as part of the statistical system operating currently in Poland. In 2008, 12 627 patients were admitted. Compared to the previous year, the trend of people entering treatment in specialist clinics and hospitals levelled off (in 2007, 12 582 patients were admitted to inpatient clinics). In 2008, 5 511 users entered inpatient treatment for the first time in their lives (5 690 in 2007).
More detailed information about treatment demand in Poland is available in the reports:
2009 National Report on the drug situation in Poland
