Identifying progress in the effort to reduce substance use harms in Scotland
First published on 25 May 2021
- Drugs
Public Health Scotland (PHS) has today published the Monitoring and Evaluating Rights, Respect and Recovery (MERRR) report and interactive data portal.
The report focuses on Scotland’s strategy to improve health by preventing and reducing substance use-related harms and is complimented by the portal, which displays information on related statistical indicators.
Both resources have been delivered as part of the MERRR framework, which was originally developed with partners including Scottish Government, Information Services Division, Health Protection Scotland, Alcohol and Drug Partnerships, the third sector and people within our communities with lived experience of substance use issues.
The framework was established to help monitor and evaluate the Scottish Government’s ‘Rights Respect and Recovery' strategy, which focuses on drug and alcohol prevention, tackling health inequalities and continuous improvements in the delivery of services across the whole of Scotland.
Highlighting the approach taken, Phil Mackie, Consultant in Public Health at PHS, said:
“We are pleased to have taken forward this work on monitoring and evaluating of the ‘Rights, Respect and Recovery’ strategy.
"The team responsible worked with a wide range of stakeholders to develop the monitoring and evaluation framework. This was based on a ‘theory of change’ model that shows how strategic actions can contribute to reducing drug and alcohol-related health and social harms".
To better collate and present the indicators, an interactive data portal produced by PHS has also been launched.
The portal draws data from a range of verified sources, with the aim that it will provide stakeholders with one accessible point to find accurate and up-to-date information that will best support the collected effort towards reducing drug and alcohol-related harms in Scotland.
Commenting on this output, Phil said:
“PHS has also created a data portal which presents the MERRR indicators. This seeks to help understanding of the progress made towards delivering the strategy.
“It is hoped the statistics provided within this tool will provide greater information and context for policymakers and services alike in helping to guide our ongoing actions to address these harms across Scotland.”