Data

New clients presenting at specialist drug treatment services (SDMD)


Description

Note: This dataset will not be receiving updates through this portal. Please refer to the Public Health Scotland Open Data platform for the relevant data.

SDMD holds information on the individuals' demographic and behavioural characteristics from their initial assessment for specialist drug misuse treatment. Each individual is counted only once within Scotland, their NHS Board and Council area of residence. However, an individual may have more than one initial assessment record and due to migration be counted in more than one NHS Board or Council area. Data is based on information from individuals' first initial assessment record within each Financial Year and residence area.

Certain figures (commonly small numbers, for small areas or populations) are not shown. This is as a result of 'statistical disclosure control' (SDC) which aims to prevent the release of information that can lead to the identification of individuals.

For further information and the Scottish Drug Misuse Database Annual Report please visit the NSS ISD website


Metadata

Theme Health and Social Care
OrganisationPublic Health Scotland
License UK Open Government Licence (OGL)
Published
Last updated
Update frequencyannual
Reference period2006 to 2017
Geographic coverageHealth Board Areas, Council Areas, Country
Contactphs.drugsteam@phs.scot

Data quality

Completeness

Not assessed

Uniqueness

Not assessed

Consistency

Not assessed

Timeliness

Not assessed

Validity

Relevant to understanding drug misuse in Scotland. Statistics will be used for policy making and service planning.

Accuracy

Quality checks are conducted by ISD. Figures are compared to previously published data and expected trends.

Quality management

Quality checks are conducted by ISD. Figures are compared to previously published data and expected trends.
In 2012/13 and 2013/14, problems with external data collection systems in specific NHS Boards prevented publication of comprehensive national SDMD data. Therefore, for the geographies: Countries (Scotland), NHS Boards of Residence (Greater Glasgow and Clyde, Tayside) and Council areas (Glasgow City, Angus, Dundee City, Perth & Kinross), 2012/13 data are available for one dimension only, i.e. New Clients Assessed for Drug Treatment: ALL.
2013/14 data are not available at all for the geographies mentioned above.


Additional details

Revisions

All data are revised annually to reflect any changes to analysis and to ensure the most complete information is presented. Minor revisions of this nature are often due to incomplete data returns at the time of previous publication.

Percentages of new clients assessed by NHS Board of Residence were corrected for financial years 2006/07 to 2015/16. In the previous release of SDMD open data, those percentages were incorrectly based on the total number of cases in Scotland rather than on the total number of cases within each NHS Board of Residence. Affected combinations of dimensions are listed below.

Measurement: PERCENT & Units: PERCENT OF NEW CLIENTS ASSESSED & New Clients Assessed for Drug Treatment: ALL & Age: ALL & Gender: MALE/FEMALE

Measurement: PERCENT & Units: PERCENT OF NEW CLIENTS ASSESSED & New Clients Assessed for Drug Treatment: ALL & Age: UNDER 25/25-34/35 AND OVER & Gender: ALL

Confidentiality policy