Are you passionate about ensuring that those struggling with drug and alcohol addiction have access to effective, compassionate treatment in Scotland? The Right to Recovery Bill consultation offers a vital opportunity to shape policy that could make treatment more accessible, consistent, and fair. However, crafting a response can feel daunting, especially when addressing the complexities of addiction treatment.
To support you, we’ve created a detailed response template that you can use in your submission. By participating in the consultation, you’re joining a movement that seeks to make a genuine, lasting impact on Scotland’s addiction crisis. Below, we’ve summarised the key points to help guide you through the consultation process.
Whether you’re an individual or an organisation, based in Scotland or elsewhere, your voice matters in this critical consultation on the Right to Recovery Bill. Addiction doesn’t recognise borders, and solutions to this crisis require input from everyone—those with lived experience, family members, advocates, healthcare providers, and community organizations. The consultation offers a chance for people everywhere who are passionate about recovery to shape legislation that could set a powerful precedent for how addiction treatment is approached, not only in Scotland but across the UK and beyond.
With this in mind, we’ve created a response template to make it easier for you to contribute. By participating in this consultation, you’re adding your voice to a growing movement dedicated to building a more compassionate, accessible, and recovery-focused system. Read on to learn how you can use this template to help shape Scotland’s future in addiction recovery. Together, we can send a strong message to policymakers that comprehensive, person-centered addiction treatment must be a fundamental right.
You need to get it done before December 20th !
Why Use This Template?
This response covers every question in the consultation, incorporating real examples and highlighting key areas where the Bill could make an impactful difference. We believe that by working together and presenting a united front, we can amplify our voices and push for a legislative shift towards a more recovery-focused system.
Key Points Covered in the Template:
- Purpose and Scope of the Bill: Strong agreement with the Bill’s objectives to establish a legal right to treatment for drug and alcohol addiction. This ensures a consistent approach across Scotland and addresses systemic barriers to access.
- Advantages of a Legal Right to Treatment:
- Accountability: Shifts responsibility to service providers, preventing arbitrary refusals based on capacity.
- Transparency: Mandates written explanations for treatment decisions, allowing individuals to understand and, if necessary, challenge denials.
- Patient Empowerment: Involves patients in decision-making, aligning treatment with their personal recovery goals.
- Comprehensive Range of Treatments: Supports a full range of treatment options, ensuring that individuals can access the type of care best suited to their needs, from residential rehab to community-based detox programs.
- Collaborative Treatment Planning: Advocates for patient-centered care, where treatment plans are made in partnership with healthcare providers. This aligns with trauma-informed care principles, recognizing the unique needs and experiences of each patient.
- Timelines for Treatment: Emphasizes the importance of the Bill’s three-week timeline for starting treatment, which could save lives by reducing wait times. Suggestions include a tiered approach for different treatments to improve flexibility and effectiveness.
- Suggested Amendments:
- Tiered Timelines: Recognizing that different treatments have different needs, with quicker access for urgent options.
- Interim Support Plans: Providing immediate support to stabilize patients while they wait for more intensive treatment.
- Enhanced Patient Rights: Expanding rights to appeal, request second opinions, and pursue judicial review if treatment is denied.
- Financial Considerations: Emphasises the long-term cost savings of comprehensive addiction treatment across health, criminal justice, and social services. Cites evidence showing that robust addiction services ultimately save public funds.
- Final Comments: Highlights the Right to Recovery Bill as a necessary step toward a compassionate, effective addiction treatment system that can rebuild trust and save lives across Scotland.
How to Use the Template:
- Copy and Personalise: Feel free to copy and personalise the template, adding your own insights and experiences.
- Submit to the Consultation: Visit the official consultation page, paste your response, and submit it before the deadline. December 20th
- Encourage Others: Share this post and encourage others to take part in the consultation. Together, we can make sure that policymakers hear the voices of those who care about addiction recovery.
Let’s Make Our Voices Count Please use any of the points you agree with in The right to recovery bill template below.
Scotland is at a crossroads. Drug and alcohol addiction affects countless lives, families, and communities across the nation. With the Right to Recovery Bill, we have an opportunity to create a treatment system that prioritizes the needs of those in recovery, ensures their rights, and provides pathways to hope and healing.
Your voice matters. Join us in supporting the Right to Recovery Bill, and let’s work together to create a better future for those impacted by addiction.
Here is the link to where you can fill in the consultation
https://yourviews.parliament.scot/health/right-to-addiction-recovery-scotland-bill/
Question 1
The Bill focuses on drugs and alcohol addiction. Do you agree or disagree with the purpose and extent of the Bill?
Strongly Agree
The Right to Recovery Bill is crucial in addressing systemic failures within Scotland’s addiction treatment framework. It establishes a legally enshrined right to treatment, directly confronting the fragmented and inconsistent practices prevalent today, where individuals often encounter barriers or delays in accessing necessary care. By aligning with a human rights-based approach, the Bill prioritizes the right to healthcare, ensuring individuals in need receive timely, effective support that can empower their recovery journey.
Question 2
What are the key advantages and/or disadvantages of placing a right to receive treatment, for people with a drug or alcohol addiction, in law?
Key Advantages:
Increased Access to Treatment: The Bill mandates treatment access, significantly reducing cases where individuals are refused help or forced into unsuitable treatment. It provides a legal right that can be swiftly challenged if denied, ensuring those in urgent need receive support promptly and instilling hope among those seeking recovery.
Accountability for Service Providers: This legislation shifts power to individuals seeking treatment, preventing arbitrary denials due to funding limitations or capacity constraints. This is particularly impactful in cases where people have been denied residential rehabilitation access due to local funding restrictions, which would be unacceptable under this Bill.
Empowerment of Patients: By involving patients in their treatment decisions, the Bill promotes individual autonomy, increasing treatment adherence and success rates. A person-centered approach ensures that treatment aligns with the patient’s preferences and recovery goals, thereby enhancing outcomes.
Transparency in Decision-Making: The Bill’s requirement for written explanations for treatment decisions allows individuals to understand and, if needed, contest the rationale behind their care plan, increasing transparency and fairness.
Addressing Gaps in Current Services: Ensuring that treatment options are accessible across regions would address disparities in service provision, creating consistency in care regardless of location.
Key Disadvantages:
Implementation Challenges: Significant investment in workforce training, infrastructure, and support services is needed to meet the Bill’s standards. Health boards may face logistical and resource-related obstacles, especially in under-resourced areas, though the Bill emphasizes that these challenges are outweighed by the necessity of saving lives.
Legal Challenges: The Bill’s framework, including judicial review rights, offers immediate recourse to patients if treatment is denied or delayed, potentially increasing the demand on legal and health services. However, this approach provides a more direct, accessible challenge process for individuals, as seen in similar areas like homelessness support.
Question 3
Do you have any comments on the range of treatments listed above?
The comprehensive range of treatments listed in the Bill—including residential rehabilitation, community-based detox, stabilisation services, and substitute prescribing—addresses the multifaceted needs of individuals with addiction. Current practice often restricts patients to narrow treatment options, particularly medication-assisted treatments (MAT), without providing sufficient rehab or psychosocial support. The Bill mandates a broader array of options, empowering patients to choose the most suitable path to recovery. The inclusion of a guidance code also allows for potential future treatment options, providing flexibility in care as the treatment landscape evolves.
Question 4
Do you have any comments on the procedure for determining treatment?
The Bill’s emphasis on collaborative treatment decisions between healthcare professionals and patients is a positive step toward a more patient-centered approach. Allowing individuals to participate actively in their treatment planning fosters autonomy and aligns with trauma-informed care principles, encouraging open dialogue around their needs and preferences. Additionally, requiring a comprehensive, holistic assessment of each patient’s needs moves away from a one-size-fits-all approach, tailoring interventions to improve outcomes. This procedural transparency, with documented reasons for treatment decisions, ensures that decisions are fair and, when necessary, open to challenge.
Question 5
Are there any issues with the timescales for providing treatment, i.e., no later than 3 weeks after the treatment determination is made?
The 3-week timeframe for commencing treatment is ambitious but necessary to reduce the risks associated with prolonged waiting times, which often lead to relapses or fatalities. This timeline sets a legislative minimum standard, with additional guidance potentially recommending shorter timeframes for certain urgent treatments, such as same-day access for MAT. Recognizing that certain treatments like residential rehabilitation may require more flexibility, the Bill would benefit from a tiered system that accommodates varied treatment types and timelines. Interim support measures, like MAT, should be offered immediately within the 3-week window to stabilize patients awaiting more specialized care, ensuring continuity and urgency in treatment provision.
Question 6
Is there anything you would amend, add to, or delete from the Bill and what are the reasons for this?
Proposed Additions:
Family and Psychosocial Support: Originally included in the Bill, these components were later removed. Reintegration of family and community support systems would enhance the success of recovery by addressing the social context of addiction.
Tiered Treatment Timescales: To accommodate diverse treatment needs, the Bill could specify different timelines, such as immediate access for MAT, a maximum of three weeks for outpatient services, and flexible timelines for residential rehabilitation based on bed availability.
Clear Interim Support Provisions: The Bill should mandate that, if full treatment cannot commence within three weeks, health boards must offer an interim support plan, including MAT or other stabilizing treatments, and provide a detailed care plan with estimated timelines.
Strengthening Patient Participation and Rights: Expanding the Bill to include an appeals process, the option for a second opinion, and the right to pursue judicial review where needed would enhance patient autonomy and safeguard their recovery rights.
Proposed Clarifications:
Resource Allocation and Capacity Building: To support the Bill’s goals, provisions for adequate funding and resources—especially in high-deprivation areas—are essential to maintain service capacity without detracting from existing programs.
Clear Definition of Terms: Definitions of “optimum benefit” and “appropriate treatment” should be clarified to prevent subjective interpretations that could undermine the Bill’s impact.
Question 7
Do you have any comments on the estimated costs as set out in the Financial Memorandum?
While initial costs may be significant, long-term savings across multiple sectors—including healthcare, criminal justice, and homelessness support—are expected. For instance, effective addiction treatment reduces emergency healthcare and criminal justice costs by stabilizing individuals and lowering rates of reoffending and hospital admissions. The Bill’s Financial Memorandum should incorporate a broader, long-term cost-benefit analysis, referencing reports like Dame Carol Black’s UK drug review, which highlights the economic advantages of robust addiction services. An independent economic assessment would further validate the projected cost savings across public sectors, bolstering the Bill’s case for implementation.
Question 8
Do you have any other comments to make on the Bill?
The Right to Recovery Bill is an essential, overdue measure that addresses significant gaps in Scotland’s approach to addiction treatment. It represents a fundamental shift, placing the rights of those in need above budget constraints or arbitrary decision-making, fostering transparency and trust between patients and providers. By embedding a culture of person-centered care, the Bill could become a pivotal component in tackling Scotland’s drug crisis, ultimately saving lives, improving health outcomes, and reducing the long-term societal and economic impact of untreated addiction.