National benchmarking report on implementation of the medication assisted treatment (MAT) standards

About this release

This report was updated on 30 July 2024 with minor adjustments on content to the main report to clarify content and remove reference to "Right of addiction recovery (Scotland) bill". Please note that all data remains unchanged and has not been impacted by this update. 

The report was updated on 18 July with minor adjustments to content on the two page summary, executive summary and main report. The updates include addition of Alt text to charts, statistical typos and added text for clarification. Please note that all data remains unchanged and has not been impacted by this update. 

This report provides an assessment of progress on implementation of medication assisted treatment (MAT) standards 1–10 as of April 2024 across all 29 Alcohol and Drug Partnership (ADP) areas. It does not report directly on outcomes, but recommends actions to address gaps.

Main points

ADPs submitted evidence which was scored to construct the red, amber, green, blue (RAGB) assessment, a composite illustration of progress against each of the standards. In this complex field of work, standards are in development and are not always directly comparable each year.

In 2023/24, for MAT standards 1–5, 90% have been assessed as fully implemented (RAGB blue and green). This is an increase from 66% in 2022/23 and 17% in 2021/22.

For MAT standards 6–10, 91% were assessed as RAGB provisional green (evidence that implementation is beginning). This is an improvement from 2022/23 when 45% were amber (evidence of partial implementation) and 12% had no evidence of implementation (RAGB red).

The RAGB score blue (evidence of sustained implementation and ongoing monitoring) was allocated to two ADPs for MAT 4 and one for MAT 3.

Of 29 ADP areas by MAT standard: • MAT standard 1: The standard is fully implemented in 23/29 (79%) ADP areas and partially implemented in 6/29 (21%) ADP areas (23/29, 79% green; 6/29, 21%, provisional green). This is an increase from 62% in 2023 and 3% in 2022. • MAT standard 2: The standard is fully implemented in 28/29 (97%) ADP areas and partially implemented in 1/29 (3%) ADP areas (28/29, 97% green; 1/29, 3% provisional green). This is an increase from 93% in 2023 and 14% in 2022. • MAT standard 3: The standard is fully implemented in 26/29 (90%) ADP areas and partially implemented in 3/29 (10%) of ADP areas (1/29, 4% blue; 25/29, 86% green; 3/29, 10% provisional green). One are is blue meaning they have sustained implementation for three years. This is an increase from 48% in 2023 and 21% in 2022. • MAT standard 4: The standard is fully implemented in 27/29 (93%) ADP areas and partially implemented in 2/29 (7%) ADP areas (2/29, 7% blue; 25/29, 86% green; 2/29, 7% provisional green). This is an increase from 62% in 2023 and 28% in 2022. Two ADP areas received Blue for three years of full implementation. • MAT standard 5: The standard is fully implemented in 27/29(93%) ADP areas and partially implemented in 2/29 (7%) ADP areas (27/29,93% green; 2/29, 7% provisional green). This is an increase from 66% in 2023 and 21% in 2022. • The RAGB score blue was allocated to standards 3 and 4 for the first time as there was none in 2022 or 2023.

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Chart 1: ADPs with RAGB score per MAT standards 1–5: Scotland 2021/22, 2022/23 and 2023/24

Of 29 ADP areas by MAT standard: • MAT standard 1: The standard is fully implemented in 23/29 (79%) ADP areas and partially implemented in 6/29 (21%) ADP areas (23/29, 79% green; 6/29, 21%, provisional green). This is an increase from 62% in 2023 and 3% in 2022. • MAT standard 2: The standard is fully implemented in 28/29 (97%) ADP areas and partially implemented in 1/29 (3%) ADP areas (28/29, 97% green; 1/29, 3% provisional green). This is an increase from 93% in 2023 and 14% in 2022. • MAT standard 3: The standard is fully implemented in 26/29 (90%) ADP areas and partially implemented in 3/29 (10%) of ADP areas (1/29, 4% blue; 25/29, 86% green; 3/29, 10% provisional green). One are is blue meaning they have sustained implementation for three years. This is an increase from 48% in 2023 and 21% in 2022. • MAT standard 4: The standard is fully implemented in 27/29 (93%) ADP areas and partially implemented in 2/29 (7%) ADP areas (2/29, 7% blue; 25/29, 86% green; 2/29, 7% provisional green). This is an increase from 62% in 2023 and 28% in 2022. Two ADP areas received Blue for three years of full implementation. • MAT standard 5: The standard is fully implemented in 27/29(93%) ADP areas and partially implemented in 2/29 (7%) ADP areas (27/29,93% green; 2/29, 7% provisional green). This is an increase from 66% in 2023 and 21% in 2022. • The RAGB score blue was allocated to standards 3 and 4 for the first time as there was none in 2022 or 2023.

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Chart 2: ADPs with RAGB score per MAT standards 6–10: Scotland 2022/23 and 2023/24

Background

The Drug Deaths Taskforce published 10 standards of care for MAT in May 2021. This was followed by the Scottish Government's plan for the National Mission on Drugs (2022) and the National Strategy for Community Justice (2022). 

This document provides an update on MAT standards implementation that ADPs can use for benchmarking and improvement. 

Additional resources

We have produced a video to accompany the benchmarking report, which brings to life the experiences of some people involved in the MAT standards work.

We have also produced interactive maps that show the progress with implementation of the MAT standards, using the RAGB status, across all 29 ADP areas in Scotland.