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Needs Assessment: A Practical Guide to Assessing Local Needs for Services for Drug Users
Chapter 3: Undertaking a Profile of Existing Services
Another key step towards determining what services are needed in a particular locality is to undertake a
profile of the relevant existing services. The aim of constructing a service profile is to identify the
range of needs currently being met by services, and the
capacity and accessibility of those services. The
gap between the needs of your target population and what is being provided, will be the focus for future service planning.
Service profiling should include all services that may be relevant to your target population - both statutory and voluntary, and those commissioned from elsewhere. Drug users may require access to a range of services, including housing, family support, counselling, advice, employment services, further education training, and community pharmacy, as well as addiction services. A service profile should seek to answer the following questions:
Key Questions to Ask when Undertaking a Service Profile Where is the service located? What information is available about services commissioned from other areas? What are the service's opening hours? Is there any out-of-hours provision such as a helpline or answering service? What range of clients does the service cater for - in terms of age, gender, drug of choice, geographical distribution, etc.? What
specific needs does the service meet for its clients? How does the service receive referrals, and from whom do its referrals come? How many clients does the service see each week, month, quarter, year? On average, how long do clients stay with the service and what are their reasons for leaving (e.g., drop-out, onward referral)? How many clients each week / month are referred on to other agencies? What is the caseload of staff? How many full-time staff does the service employ, and how much time do they have available each week for client appointments? Is there any information from staff satisfaction or user satisfaction surveys? How do existing clients access the service - on foot, by car, by public transportation? How accessible is the service by public transportation? Does the service have a waiting list? If so, how long do drug users have to wait before accessing the service? What support, if any, is provided while waiting? What follow-up support is provided? If the service operates an appointment system, what proportion of clients do not attend (DNA)? How many appointments per week / month are DNA?
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The task of service profiling may take some time. Ideally, DAATs should routinely collate and analyse this information for the services in their area - perhaps once every six months, rather than having to request it from each agency for the purpose of undertaking a needs assessment.
Gap analysis
Once you have gathered detailed information about the services currently available to your target population, consider whether there are any obvious gaps in current service provision. This may be based on what you already know about the needs of your target population.
It is important to be aware that there may be a number of different types of agencies available to meet the needs of your target population. However, your service profile may indicate that, for whatever reason, many of the members of your target population are not engaging with those agencies. Groups such as female drug users, young people, prostitutes, or children of drug-using parents may have needs which are substantially different from the needs of the majority of clients of your local services.
When undertaking a gap analysis, it may be helpful to classify the needs of your target population into a small set of categories. This classification may take many forms. For example, the needs of drug users may be simply classified as:
health-related needs: the needs for help and advice to prevent or reduce the harm associated with drug use, and for treatment to improve physical and mental health.
addiction-specific needs: the need for treatment, care and aftercare relating to drug use.
accommodation-related needs: the need for shelter and housing, both during times of crisis, and in the long-term.
employment-related needs: the needs for training in basic skills, counselling to increase motivation, confidence and self-esteem, and the need for access to employability services and employment opportunities.
The results of your gap analysis may be used as the basis for further exploration of needs when speaking to your target population and practitioners.
Example The manager of an addiction service may consider that the greatest risk to his or her target population is death. Evidence indicates that the risk of death is increased significantly as a result of: injecting drug use, voluntary or enforced detoxification, homelessness or living alone, co-morbid mental health problems, and inaccessible services. Addiction service managers might therefore classify the needs of their target population as: the need for harm reduction the need for aftercare following detoxification the need for accommodation and housing support the need for psychiatric treatment and counselling the need to reduce waiting times.
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THINK ABOUT |
When undertaking a profile of existing services think about The range of needs currently being met by those services, the capacity of those services, and their accessibility to your target population Whether you have included all the services relevant to your target population (e.g. housing, employability, family support) How to identify the gap between current provision and needs of your target population
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