Symposium on accreditation of rehab centres kicks off

By Celeste Ganga
8 April 2008

According to a statement released by the City of Cape Town, the growing problem with drugs and alcohol has increased the demand for treatment services and many new treatment centres are springing up. Hence the City of Cape Town will be hosting a two day symposium (8th and 9th April) for those who own a rehabilitation facility to become registered.

“Right now we have a situation where we have many treatment services. Some are registered with the Department of Social Development, but there are many smaller facilities and new facilities that are emerging that aren’t registered. We really don’t have a good handle on what’s happening at those facilities. So part of this initiative is to try and get everyone on board and registered at least,” says Dr Bronwyn Myers of the Medical Research Council.

She adds that there are great concerns about how effective treatment facilities are; this has emerged in her research as a barrier to many people who are seeking treatment services- because people think treatment doesn’t work.

“There are concerns about the quality and effectiveness of services delivered in treatment facilities. To a very large extent we don’t know what’s happening and how effective services are,” says Myers.

Myers explains that this kind of initiative (accreditation of rehabilitation facilities) is a step in the right direction towards addressing some of those concerns and answering questions about effectiveness, efficiency and service quality.