ADR Wales news. Published 26/03/2025
A series of reports that link anonymised government data on substance misuse and treatment to enhance the support given to people with complex and interconnected needs has today been published.
Better Outcomes through Linked Data, or BOLD, is a Ministry of Justice-led programme funded by the UK HM Treasury, with the Welsh component run by the ADR Wales team in Welsh Government, Public Health Wales, and the SAIL Databank. In Wales, BOLD is match funded by ADR UK.
The BOLD programme is designed to address the challenges that can occur when data on people with complex issues are held in different government departments, organisations and administrations and are not shared, meaning that support cannot be provided in the most effective way.
The programme comprises four strands of data reporting: reducing reoffending, substance misuse, supporting victims of crime, and reducing homelessness, and provides rich data to help understand the relationship between the areas, helping support services to be more informed about the best way to support people who have needs which cannot be dealt effectively by just one department or organisation.
The reports include:
Led by ADR Wales in Welsh Government
- Pathways between probation services and substance misuse treatment services in Wales (intended for the public)
- Pathways between probation services and substance misuse treatment services in Wales (more technical version)
Led by Public Health Wales
- Potential opportunities to reduce the escalation of substance misuse: A retrospective observational data linkage study in Wales
- Maternal substance misuse-related foetal anomalies: A data linkage study in Wales
- Investigating the association between adult substance misuse and health and criminal justice outcomes of children in the household
- Long-term outcomes of people treated for substance misuse in Wales: A data linkage study
- Substance misuse, health service contact and risk of mortality: A data linkage study in Wales
- Data Explained: Welsh National Database for Substance Misuse (WNDSM) data quality audit and considerations
The findings will be discussed at a BOLD showcase happening tomorrow, 27 March, in Cardiff. The event is aimed at policy leads and planners within Welsh Government, health and social care, criminal justice and public health services.