The report, Voices on Choices, calls for consumers to be involved in the planning, development, evaluation and delivery of treatment services.

“Consumers now have a strong voice in the areas of mental health, women’s health and disability sectors, but it has been much slower to develop in drug and alcohol treatment services,” said researcher, Teresa Hinton.  “Tasmania has a long way to go to improve consumer participation in this area”.

Ms Hinton’s research outlines recent work done in the United Kingdom which has transformed drug and alcohol services by improving levels of consumer participation. The research found that listening to what consumers say can fundamentally change services and make them more effective.

“There is so much potential to make exciting progress in this area,” she said. “The UK experience shows that to be successful, consumer involvement needs nurturing by government. There has to be leadership and a national approach to achieve consistency and compliance. It needs to be reinforced through standards and services need to be held to account to those standards”.

Ms Hinton said the small size of Tasmania made it difficult for consumers to speak out because of issues of privacy and confidentiality. “People are often reluctant to identify given the high levels of stigma and discrimination, particularly for illicit drug users,” she said.

“It is time to recognise that the users of drug and alcohol treatment services do have much to contribute,” said Ms Hinton. “But achieving consumer-led services will be a long-term process - requiring policy changes, adequate funding, ongoing monitoring and cultural change,” she said.

In a positive development, Advocacy Tasmania has begun a project to promote consumer engagement. In its initial stages, the project will seek feedback from consumers about ways to improve existing services.

“By encouraging consumers to be a co-author of their treatment, it increases the success of people to achieve lifestyle changes after addiction,” said Bert Dorgelo of Advocacy Tasmania. “This approach will also see enhancements to services that will directly benefit consumers,” he said.

The Alcohol Tobacco and Other Drugs Council of Tasmania welcomed the focus on consumer participation, saying it was “an ethical and democratic right” which led to better quality services and better health outcomes.