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National Gambling Treatment Service statistics (Great Britain) published by GambleAware: 2018/19 and 2019/20.
Executive Summary
Overview of treatment statistics in Great Britain (for services that report to the GambleAware data reporting framework):
Overall, 9008 and 7675 individuals were treated within gambling services within 2019/20 and 2018/19, respectively
3905 (66.3%) and 3635 (68.1%) gambling clients completed scheduled treatment in 2019/20 and 2018/19, respectively
954 (80.2%) and 580 (78.6%) affected others completed scheduled treatment in 2019/20 and 2018/19, respectively
Key findings
Less than 1% of the overall past-year gambling disorder population in Great Britain completed treatment
Less than 0.03% of the overall affected other population completed treatment
Treatment services see significantly fewer younger (16-34-year-olds) and ethnic minority individuals than are expected using data from the last well-designed prevalence study
Gambling treatment services are disproportionately reliant on self-referrals when compared to other addiction treatment services in the UK
Median waiting time for residential services was reported at 104 days in 2019/20 and 116 days in 2018/19 - reflecting a mismatch between needs and provisions
Although treatment statistics reflect tremendous improvements in clients, only 30% reported a score of 0 on the PGSI at the end of treatment - indicating the importance of follow-up care and support
Treatment data shows significant improvements in PGSI and CORE-10 and thus demonstrate that treatments have a profoundly impactful impact on health and wellbeing
Methods
Firstly, we compare the age-gender-ethnic distributions of the treatment population over what may be expected based on prevalence statistics from the latest well-designed study (BGPS 2010)
Finally, we summarise data on sources of referral into treatment and treatment outcomes.
Results
Number of individuals by PGSI at earliest appointment in 2019/20 (2018/19)
No harm 54 (36)
Low-risk 49 (36) or approximately 0.02% of the low-risk harm gambling population
Moderate-risk 280 (174) or approximately 0.3% of the moderate-risk harm gambling population
Gambling disorder 6326 (5952) or approximately 1% of individuals who suffer gambling disorder harm
Number of affected others
There are an estimated 3.9m individuals who suffer significant harm due to someone else's gambling (6 affected others for every case of gambling disorder)
We estimate that less than 0.03% of affected others are treated within gambling services in Great Britain.
Gambling clients by age
Treatment populations are significantly older than the expected population, and this is most pronounced among 16-24 and 25-34-year-olds.
Gambling clients by ethnicity
The distribution of gambling clients in treatment by ethnicity remained stable from 2018/19 - 2019/20.
Treatment populations are significantly and disproportionately less composed of ethnic minority ethnic groups.
Source of referral into treatment for Gambling clients in 2019/20 (2018/19)
Self-referral: 92.2% (92.2%)
Prison: 1.5% (0.8%)
Other service or agency: 2.0% (2.4%)
GP: 1.4% (1.7%)
Mental health NHS trust: 0.9% (0.9%)
Other primary health care: 0.9% (0.8%)
Probation service: 0.3% (0.3%)
Employer: 0.2% (<0.1%)
Social services: 0.2% (0.2%)
Drug Misuse Services: 0.1% (0.0%)
Police: 0.1% (0.2%)
Carer: 0.1% (0.1%)
Comparing referral reasons in other treatment services for 2018/19
Waiting times in 2019/20 (2018/19)
For clients treated during 2018/19 and 2019/20, 50% of clients were seen within three days and 75% within eight days.
Waiting times for residential services were higher, with 50% of clients seen within 104 days (116 days)
Treatment
PGSI change in 2019/20 (2018/19)
Between the earliest and latest appointment within treatment, the median change was of an improvement by 12 points (13 points)
For individuals with gambling disorder completing treatment, 74% (76%) were no longer defined as gambling disorder at the end of treatment, and 30% (36%) scored a score of 0 (reflecting no gambling harm in the past 12 months)
CORE-10 change in 2019/20 (2018/19)
In both 2018/19 and 2019/20, the average change in CORE-10 scores in gambling clients between earliest and latest appointments was by 8 points.
For those completing scheduled treatment, improved scores were recorded for 85.8% (87.1%) of individuals.
When comparing percentages of gambling clients below clinical cut-off, 14.8% were below the cut-off at the earliest appointment, and 54.2% were at the latest (14.7%, 54.5%)
Conclusion
Treatment providers play a pivotal role in improving individuals' health and well-being, gambling harm either as individuals who gamble or as affected others.
Groups that are disproportionately affected by gambling harm, such as younger people and individuals from an ethnic minority background, are also less likely to be receiving treatment.
Other gaps in services are perceived in provisions for affected others, residential services, and follow-up care.
Relative to other addiction treatment services, gambling-treatment services are far more reliant on self-referral, reflecting systemic issues within health care and criminal justice.
Only a small fraction of those suffering gambling harm (less than 1%) complete treatment, which demonstrates that gambling harm is still neglected relative to other issues