National drug and alcohol treatment waiting times
1 April 2026 to 30 June 2026

About this release

This quarterly release by Public Health Scotland (PHS) reports on waiting times for people accessing specialist drug and alcohol treatment services between 1 April and 30 June 2026. Data are presented by NHS Board of treatment. Trend data for selected indicators are available in the publication dashboard.

Data from Western Isles ADP and Shetland Islands ADP have been excluded from this release. Shetland ADP was unable to confirm that their data were accurate and up to date within the specified timescale. Western Isles ADP did not meet the minimum expected referral threshold, as set out in the Data Quality document. This means that NHS Board level data are unavailable for NHS Shetland and NHS Western Isles. Among the remaining areas, three out of 190 specialist treatment services were excluded from this release due to incomplete data, including two prison services (one in NHS Lothian and one in NHS Lanarkshire). No prison-based services in NHS Lanarkshire are included in this release due to service exclusions. Findings reported here refer only to those services who provided complete data. See the Data Quality document for more information.

This publication includes the 2025/26 annual waiting times tables. A summary of findings can be found in the annual waiting times tables.

Main points

During the quarter ending 30 June 2026:

• 11,290 referrals were made to community-based specialist drug and alcohol treatment services - broadly similar to the previous quarter (11,408). Of these, 5,452 (48.3%) were for problematic use of alcohol, 3,993 (35.4%) for problematic use of drugs, and 1,845 (16.3%) for problematic use of both alcohol and drugs.
• 7,095 referrals to community-based services started treatment - broadly similar to the previous quarter (6,937).
• Nationally, the Standard was met for referrals to community-based services, with 93.6% (6,643) of referrals starting treatment within three weeks, compared with 93.0% in the previous quarter. By substance type, the Standard was met for problematic use of drugs (96.2%), both alcohol and drugs (92.8%) and alcohol (92.1%). Two NHS Boards did not meet the Standard (NHS Highland, 89.1%, NHS Lothian, 83.4%).
• 704 referrals were made to prison-based services - a decrease of 10.5% from the previous quarter (787). Of these, 527 (74.9%) were for problematic use of drugs, 142 (20.2%) for problematic use of both alcohol and drugs, and 35 (5.0%) for problematic use of alcohol.
• 299 referrals to prison-based services started treatment - an increase from the previous quarter (293).
• Nationally, the Standard was met for referrals to prison-based services, with 94.3% (282) of referrals starting treatment within three weeks compared with 93.9% in the previous quarter. By substance type, the Standard was met for problematic use of alcohol (100%), both alcohol and drugs (97.6%) and drugs (92.3%). One of the nine NHS Boards with prison-based services did not meet the standard (NHS Tayside, 71.0%). Data from prison-based services in NHS Lanarkshire have been excluded from this release.

As of 30 June 2026:

• 2,288 community-based service referrals had not started treatment. Of these, 359 (15.6%) involved a wait of more than three weeks.
• 39 prison-based service referrals had not started treatment. Of these, 15 (38.4%) involved a wait of more than three weeks.

Bar chart illustrating the percentage of community referrals completed within three weeks against the Standard of 90% for each NHS Board in the quarter ending 30 June 2026.

Close

Percentage of completed community referrals with a wait of three weeks or less, by NHS Board (1 April 2026 to 30 June 2026)

Background

These data were extracted from the Drug and Alcohol Information System (DAISy) and its predecessor the Drug and Alcohol Treatment Waiting Times (DATWT) database. DAISy has been available in all NHS Boards from April 2021 and replaced two previous systems: the DATWT database and the Scottish Drug Misuse Database (SDMD).

DAISy and its predecessor systems hold data in relation to specialist drug and alcohol treatments and waiting times from services throughout Scotland delivering tier 3 and 4 specialist drug and alcohol interventions, namely structured community, and residential treatment. Treatment services report to Alcohol and Drug Partnerships (ADPs), which are multi-agency groups tasked by the Scottish Government with tackling alcohol and drug issues through partnership working. Scotland's 30 ADPs submit DAISy data to PHS through a secure web system.

In 2011, the Scottish Government set a Standard that 90% of people referred for help with problematic drug or alcohol use will wait no longer than three weeks for specialist treatment that supports their recovery. A key function of this publication is to report on compliance with the Standard.

From the September 2026 release, a change has been made to how lengths of wait are calculated. For more information on publication context, terminology, metadata and early access details, see the Background Information document.

Further information

The next release of this publication will be 15 December 2026.