Annex A Supplementary information for specific SDMD tables
Table B1.7 Source of referral
The source of referral provides information on the main source from whom the referral was received and gives an indication of the accessibility to services.
Table B1.8 and B1.9 Presenting Issue(s)
Details of the significant issues which have led the person to present to the service for their drug misuse problem.
Table B1.10 Seeking prescription
Since April 2001, the Database collects information on whether individuals are seeking a prescription. This includes those individuals who are attending the service with a view to obtaining a prescription regardless of whether the service can actually prescribe.
Tables B1.11 to B1.15 Illicit drug drofile and B1.16 to B1.17 Prescribed drug profile
The Database collects a range of details about the particular drugs which the patients/clients have used in the past month.
The previous data collection forms (SMR22 and SMR23, used prior to April 2001) included one drug profile question which gathered information on all drugs used. This included illicit drugs as well as drugs which had been prescribed for the individual’s own use. In order to make a clearer distinction between illicit use and an individual’s prescription, form SMR24 was designed to include two drug profile questions i.e. one collecting data on the illicit drug profile in the past month, the other collecting data on the individual’s current prescription (see definitions below).
Illicit drug profile
The illicit drug profile collects information on:
- any illegal drug
- over the counter medicines used inappropriately
- volatile substances use inappropriately
- use of a prescribed drug which has been prescribed for someone else’s use
- alcohol, when its use is identified as an issue of concern
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Table B1.13 collects information on the main illicit drug.
Main illicit drug
The drug which causes the patient/client the most problems at the time of contact. This may not be the drug used most frequently or in the largest quantities |
Prescribed drug profile
The prescribed drug profile collects information on any drug relating to drug misuse which is currently being prescribed, including:
- Drugs prescribed as substitution for opioids
- Drugs prescribed to alleviate the symptoms of withdrawal
- Drugs prescribed for relapse prevention
- Anti-depressants and anti-psychotics which are prescribed for the symptomatic treatment of drug misuse or dependence
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Table B1.17 collects information on the main prescribed drug.
Main prescribed drug
The prescription drug relating to the treatment of the main illicit drug. This may not be the drug used most frequently or in the largest quantities. |
Since April 2001, alcohol can be recorded as the main illicit drug but only if there are other drugs recorded within the illicit drug profile, or a prescribed drug relating to the individual’s previous illicit drug use is recorded within the prescription profile.
Technical note: Migration of historic drug profile data
As a result of changes to the collection of drug profile data, as discussed above, ISD have had to develop data "migration rules" in order to include the historic drug profile information on the new SMR24 Database (introduced April 2001).
Migration rules
- all illicit drugs e.g. heroin, cocaine, ecstasy etc. have been migrated on to the SMR24 database
- all other drugs i.e. those which can be prescribed, have been migrated on to the new database only if it had been recorded that all (or part) of the drug had been taken illicitly. If there was no indication as to whether this was the case then it could not be assumed that the drug had been taken illicitly and therefore could not be included on the new illicit drug profile
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For this reason data presented for the year 2000/01 for drugs which can be prescribed will be an underestimate of the true figure.
Tables B1.18 to B1.23 Age profiles
The Database collects information on the age of the individual at different points of their drug use: age when first used an illicit drug, age at onset of problem and age when (professional) help was sought. The time lags between these ages provides an indication of the length of time between first use, onset of problem and seeking help.
Tables B1.24 to B1.38 Routes of use and sharing behaviour
Due to the important health implications, information on injecting and sharing behaviour is collected by the Database. All patients/clients are asked whether they have ever injected and if so, whether they have done so in the past month prior to attending the service. Similar questions are asked regarding sharing needles/syringes and sharing spoons/water/filters/solutions. Prior to April 2001, less specific information was collected on `sharing injecting equipment’.
Trends in sharing `injecting equipment’ / ‘needles/syringes’
It is thought that prior to April 2001, the responses to the sharing ‘injecting equipment’ question had generally been interpreted wrongly as equivalent to sharing needles/syringes. The trend tables B1.33 and B1.34 present information on sharing injecting equipment for 2000/01 and sharing needles/syringes for 2001/02 to 2003/04. Caution is however recommended when comparing data for 2001/02 to 2003/04 with previous years as it is not possible to verify that the interpretation of questions was equivalent in every case.
Table B1.38 Injection sites
This provides information on the risk practices associated with current injectors.
Tables B1.39 to B1.45 Social information
The personal circumstances of the drug user seeking treatment or advice from services can influence the individual’s motivation for seeking help and the extent to which the service can contribute to a change in drug taking behaviour. Information on employment status, current living arrangements and accommodation and the individual’s current legal status are each potentially relevant factors and are collected by the Database.
Table B1.46 Forms received
All other tables present information on new individual patients/clients. It is, however, possible that many of these individuals may have entered more than one service and could therefore be included several times on the Database. This section presents information on all attendances reported by contributing services i.e. all valid forms received.
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