National drug and alcohol treatment waiting times
1 January 2026 to 31 March 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 January and 31 March 2026.

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.

Data are presented by NHS Board of treatment. Trend data for selected indicators are available in the publication dashboard. Across Scotland, three out of 190 specialist treatment services were excluded from this release due to incomplete data, including two prison-based services in NHS Tayside. Findings reported here refer only to those services who provided complete data. See the Data Quality document for more information.

Main points

During the quarter ending 31 March 2026:

• 11,017 referrals were made to community-based specialist drug and alcohol treatment services, broadly similar to the previous quarter (11,022). Of these, 5,273 (47.9%) were for problematic use of alcohol, 4,091 (37.1%) for problematic use of drugs, and 1,653 (15.0%) for problematic use of both alcohol and drugs.
• 7,034 referrals to community-based services started treatment, broadly similar to the previous quarter (7,009).
• Nationally, the Standard was met for referrals to community-based services, with 92.4% (6,501) of referrals starting treatment within three weeks, compared with 92.6% in the previous quarter. Across all substance types, the Standard was met for drugs (94.2%), problematic use of both alcohol and drugs (91.5%) and alcohol (91.4%). Three NHS Boards did not meet the Standard (Western Isles, 89.1%; Highland, 88.7%; Lothian, 75.7%).
• 757 referrals were made to prison-based services, an increase of 12.5% from the previous quarter (673). Of these, 593 (78.3%) were for problematic use of drugs, 125 (16.5%) for problematic use of both alcohol and drugs, and 39 (5.2%) for problematic use of alcohol.
• 302 referrals to prison-based services started treatment, an increase of 15.3% from the previous quarter (262).
• Nationally, the Standard was not met for referrals to prison-based services, with 86.4% (261) of referrals starting treatment within three weeks, compared with 97.3% in the previous quarter. Across substance types, the Standard was met for problematic use of both alcohol and drugs (94.1%) but not for alcohol (88.4%) and drugs (83.6%). Out of the nine NHS Boards with prison-based services, Lothian did not meet the Standard (64.7%).

As of 31 March 2026:

• 2,200 community-based service referrals had not started treatment. Of these, 284 (12.9%) involved a wait of more than three weeks.
• 25 prison-based service referrals had not started treatment. Of these, eight (32.0%) 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 31 March 2026. Scotland overall achieved 92.4%. Three NHS Boards did not meet the Standard: Western Isles 89.1%, Highland 88.7% and Lothian 75.7%.

Close

Percentage of completed community referrals with a wait of three weeks or less, by NHS Board (1 January 2026 to 31 March 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 predecessors 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 June 2026 release, several reporting categories and labels have been updated following planned DAISy system changes. These include updates to referral source, treatment type, ethnicity and discharge reason categories. For more information on publication context, terminology, metadata and early access details, 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.

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 29 September 2026.