Abstract
The concept of providing individuals with a ‘voice’ via stakeholder involvement has been advocated within English health care policy for several decades. Stakeholder involvement encourages people affected by an issue to contribute to planning and decision making regarding treatment and care, inclusive of providers and recipients of care. This paper explores stakeholder involvement in the design and delivery of public health alcohol services. A qualitative case study approach was adopted, including in-depth interviews with 11 alcohol commissioners, 10 alcohol service providers and 6 general practitioners plus three facilitated focus groups with 31 alcohol service users. Findings show that most participants were aware of, and could name, various methods of stakeholder involvement that they had engaged with; however, the extent and impact of stakeholder involvement in decision making are not transparent. It is essential that a deeper understanding is generated of the different roles that stakeholders can play within the entire decision-making process to maximise its utility.
Highlights
In the U.K., there were 270,705 adults in contact with drug and alcohol treatment services between April 2019 and March 2020 [1]
Engaging in effective stakeholder involvement to collaboratively bring about improvements in alcohol service design and delivery and ensuring a clear understanding of the factors that promote or inhibit drug and alcohol treatment uptake and attendance at social and psychological interventions are crucial
As a group of professionals, who may act as a first point of contact and referral source into specialist alcohol treatment and service users who have accessed support regarding their alcohol use
Summary
In the U.K., there were 270,705 adults in contact with drug and alcohol treatment services between April 2019 and March 2020 [1]. When considering treatment interventions delivered, 98% of individuals received a psychosocial intervention, and. Within the same 2019–2020 timeframe, 117,678 individuals exited the treatment system, of which 36% left without completing treatment (this includes individuals declining further treatment and unsuccessful transfers between services) [1]. Engaging in effective stakeholder involvement to collaboratively bring about improvements in alcohol service design and delivery and ensuring a clear understanding of the factors that promote or inhibit drug and alcohol treatment uptake and attendance at social and psychological interventions are crucial. Involving stakeholders in service design offers is one way of improving service provision, including determining which interventions are perceived to contribute to reducing the alcohol- and drug-related harm from individuals’ experience
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