RESULT4addiction improving addiction outcomes
Annual Report 1/4/2021 to 31/3/2022 for the Charity Commission
registered charity number 1185891
RESULT4addiction
improving addiction outcomes
Aims and purposes
The sole purpose of the charity is to maintain and develop a website to help people who have an addiction problem. The website is to be found at http://www.result4addiction.net/ The aim is to help to improve the outcomes for people who have addiction problems. It is recognised that people with a wide range of educational achievement come within the orbit of the website resource and, therefore, a secondary aim is to make the content widely accessible by using plain English across the main topic areas and scientific language only as visitors drill down into a topic.
Objectives
The website’s primary aim of improving addiction outcomes is pertinent to both individuals who have or are in recovery from an addiction problem and to health and social care practitioners who are trying to help them. The objectives are:
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To support members of the UK public with drug and alcohol problems to…
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a) self-assess their addiction problem anonymously and monitor progress to recovery
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b) understand the nature of addiction problems
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c) understand the nature and benefits of treatment
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To provide information to members of the UK public who may wish to…
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a) support family or friends who have an addiction b) learn more about addictions
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To provide screening for people worried about their drinking or drug taking to…
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a) check out their substance use
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b) check out national and international comparisons of substance use
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To support practitioners in drug and alcohol services to…
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a) assess and monitor the severity of service users’ addiction problems
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b) provide education to practitioners on the nature of addiction problems, the expected outcomes from addiction treatment, and the evidence supporting many of the commonly used addiction treatment outcome measures
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c) provide a means of monitoring practitioner performance – typically with a supervisor
The rationale for the website and a brief history
The result4addiction project was started in 2016 by Drs Duncan Raistrick and Gillian Tober who had been the senior clinicians at Leeds Addiction Unit for over 30 years. Following the Health and Social Care Act 2016 the commissioning of all substance misuse services was moved to the Local Authority and over the next few years NHS addiction services were greatly diminished. The project, which became a charity in November 2019, was seen as one contribution to filling the gaps left by the reduction of NHS provision. The website went live in 2018. Mark Bisson, retired senior NHS addiction nurse with extensive clinical, research and teaching experience, joined the project in 2019 and all three contributors became volunteers and Trustees of the charity and now manage the website.
Activity 2021-2022
Overall traffic to the website has been running at around 200 visits per week. The peaks are probably due to promotional activity of some kind: usually approaching a particular service or sending out emails to practitioners. The first chart below shows weekly visits for the year 2021/22 (analytics available only from October 2021 when the new site template was installed) and the second chart shows the most popular content…
There is no way of knowing who has visited the website or why. The website analytics provide data on a number of parameters, for example which countries users are in, and which devices have been used.
COVID-19 pandemic
The pandemic had an impact on the Charity since the first lockdown in March 2020. Face to face meetings, including making video recordings, were suspended. Some face-to-face trustee meetings have been re-instated and face-to-face practice demonstrations have been planned. The pandemic showed the value of having online tools to support practitioners and enable self-assessments.
Important achievements this year
- 1) Improved presentation and accessibility
This is an on-going process. We have provided more links to improve navigation around the site. The switch to the new template for the site did improve functionality and few received positive feedback from website users. The section for practitioners has been further enhanced by adding new video discussions and demonstrations of good practice.
- 2) Continued engagement with services
The Trustees continue to provide training and support to substance misuse services. The website forms a key resource where a service adopts a psychosocial model of treatment called Integrated Social Behaviour and Network Therapy.
3) Provision of formal training
Discussions to develop more formal training and assessment were commenced , and course structure and content were outlined.
- 4) Improved engagement with the website
A two monthly email campaign that was started in March 2021 has continued to promote practice improvements through regular updates. Topics for the updates are in the form of interviews with influential researchers or clinicians, demonstrations of therapy skills, and guidance on common addiction treatment procedures.
Structure, governance and management
RESULT4addiction is a Charitable Incorporated Organisation of Trustees only (foundation CIO). The Trustees meet informally every two weeks or so and hold formal meetings every three months with minutes recorded. The business of the charity is straightforward to enact and tasks are divided between the Trustees who work on a voluntary basis for the charity.
Administrative information
The charity does not have a physical base. Contact can be made by email
result4addiction@gmail.com
The three Trustees are Duncan Raistrick, Gillian Tober and Mark Bisson. To see the credentials of the Trustees visit https://www.result4addiction.net/about-us
Financial review
This is the financial statement for the Charity’s financial year April 2021 to March 2022. Receipts were from a single donor. Outgoings are almost entirely due to software platform licence fees. Similar costs were incurred in the previous year.
| Receipts and Payments Account | Receipts and Payments Account |
|---|---|
| Receipts Donations Total Payments Squarespace FlippingBook Academia journals Infogram Qualtrics Artwork/printing/design Other Total Bank balance Cooperative bank |
2021/22 £ 2020/21 £ 3,576 3,300 3,576 3,300 |
| 230 311 719 719 82 69 312 307 1,985 1373 0 0 83 377 3.373 3,156 |
|
| 738 573 |
The ‘other’ category of expenditure I 2021/22 was a Filmora video editing licence and sundry items; in 2020/21 it was for a Google advertising campaign, which was tried as an experiment. The campaign was effective at bringing people to the site, but too expensive to sustain without additional funding.
The only tangible asset of the charity is its website – it is not known whether the website has any financial value but we assume not. The charity benefits from all activities being conducted from the Trustees’ residences using personal equipment and study areas for which no charge is made to the charity. The charity also benefits from the time given by the Trustees to operating the project.