Western Australia

In 2020–21, 109 publicly funded alcohol and other drug treatment agencies in Western Australia provided over 22,200 treatment episodes to just under 17,200 clients (tables Agcy.1, SCR.21). Western Australia submitted revised data in April 2022 due to services transitioning to new systems after WA decommissioned their central client management system impacting the total of treatment episodes and clients.

Western Australia reported:

  • an 11% decrease in treatment episodes from 25,090 in 2019–20 to 22,245 in 2020–21, and a 20% increase in episodes since 2011–12 (18,501) (Table ST WA.2)
  • more clients are using AOD services in 2020–21 than 2013–14, after adjusting for population growth (740 clients per 100,000 population compared with 697 per 100,000, respectively)
  • client numbers increased from 2013–14 (15,146) to 2018–19 (19,348), decreasing to 19,133 in 2019–20, with a further decrease in 2020–21 (17,195) (Table SCR.21).

The visualisation shows that 22,245 treatment episodes were provided to 17,195 clients in Western Australia in 2020–21. This equates to a rate of 957 episodes and 740 clients per 100,000 population, compared with the national rate of 1,079 episodes and 618 clients per 100,000 population.

In 2020–21, most (86%) clients in Western Australia attended 1 agency, and received an average of 1.3 treatment episodes, which is lower than the national average of 1.7 treatment episodes (tables SCR.21, SCR.23).

Client demographics

In 2020–21:

  • most (94%) clients in Western Australia received treatment for their own alcohol or drug use, of which, most (64%) were male (Figure WA1)
  • almost 8 in 10 people seeking treatment for someone else’s alcohol or drug use were female (77%)
  • 0.2% (26) of people receiving treatment for their own alcohol or drug use reported sex as ‘other’
  • over half (56%) of the people receiving treatment for their own alcohol or drug use were aged 20–39 years; in contrast, people seeking treatment for someone else’s alcohol or drug use were more likely to be aged 50 and over (49%)
  • over 1 in 5 (22%) of all clients identified as Indigenous Australians, which is higher than the national proportion (17%)
  • the majority (83%) of all clients were born in Australia and nearly all (99%) reported English as their preferred language (tables SC WA.1–3, SC.4, SC WA.21 –22).

The visualisation includes a series of horizontal bar graphs showing that, in 2020–21, just under two-thirds (62%) of all clients were male, 54% were aged 20–39 and 22% were Indigenous Australians in Western Australia. Nearly all clients (99%) listed English as their preferred language and most (83%) were born in Australia.

Patterns of service use

Over the period 2016–17 to 2020–21, 66,974 clients received treatment in Western Australia. Of these clients:  

  • the majority received treatment in a single year (73%):
    • 14% (9,604) received treatment for the first time in 2020–21
    • a further 59% (39,516) received treatment in only one of the four collection periods (excluding 2020–21)
  • 18% (12,292) of clients received treatment in any 2 of the 5 years
  • 5.9% (3,925) of clients received treatment in any 3 of the 5 years
  • 1.9% (1,300) of clients received treatment in any 4 of the 5 years
  • 0.5% (337) of clients received treatment in all 5 collection years (Table SCR.28).

Drugs of concern

In 2020–21, for clients in Western Australia receiving treatment episodes for their own alcohol or drug use:

  • alcohol was the most common principal drug of concern (40% or 8,548 episodes), followed by amphetamines (27% or 5,764) (Figure WA2; Table ST WA.6)

The grouped horizontal bar chart shows that, in 2020–21, alcohol was the most common principal drug of concern in treatment episodes provided to clients in Western Australia for their own drug use (40.3%). This was followed by amphetamines (27.2%) and cannabis (22.0%). Cannabis was the most common additional drug of concern (21.8% of episodes), followed by nicotine (15.4%) and alcohol (14.6%).

In 2020–21, for clients receiving treatment for their own use of amphetamines:

  • methamphetamine was reported as a principal drug of concern in over 9 in 10 (92%) treatment episodes
  • in over half (56%) of treatment episodes where methamphetamine was the principal drug of concern, injecting was the most common method of use, followed by smoking (42%) (Figures WA3a, WA3b).

The line graph shows that, from 2011–12 to 2013–14, amphetamine and ‘amphetamines not further defined’ were the most common drugs of concern among amphetamine-related treatment episodes for clients’ own drug use. In 2014–15, methamphetamine became the most common drug of concern. The proportion of episodes for methamphetamine increased from 12.3% in 2011–12 to 92.5% in 2020–21.

The stacked horizontal bar chart shows the method of use for treatment episodes related to clients’ own use of methamphetamine, amphetamine, amphetamines not further defined, and other amphetamines in Western Australia in 2020–21. Injecting was the most common method of use for amphetamine and methamphetamine (56.1% and 56.3% of episodes, respectively), while ingesting was the most common method of use for other amphetamines (100.0% of episodes).

Clients can nominate up to 5 additional drugs of concern, but these drugs are not necessarily the subject of any treatment within the episode (see Technical notes). In 2020–21, when the client reported additional drugs of concern:

  • cannabis was the most common additional drug (22% of episodes), followed by nicotine and alcohol (both 15%) and amphetamines (12%) (Table ST WA.7).

Over the period 2011–12 to 2020–21:

  • the proportion of treatment episodes for alcohol as a principal drug of concern fell from 43% (7,478) in 2011–12 to 29% in 2016–17 (6,723), rising to 34% (7,919) in 2019–20 and then 40% (8,548 episodes) in 2020–21, relative to all other principal drugs of concern, even though episode numbers increased over this time
  • the proportion of treatment for amphetamines as a principal drug of concern increased from 18% in 2011–12, peaking at 36% in 2016–17 with slight variations until 2019–20 (34%), then falling to 27% in 2020–21, in relation to all other principal drugs of concern; however, treatment episodes increased from 3,155 to 5,764 over this period (Table ST WA.6)
    • within the amphetamines group, methamphetamine was reported as the principal drug of concern in 12% of episodes in 2011–12 rising to (76%) in 2015–16, increasing further to 92% in 2020–21 (Figure WA3a).
  • cannabis fluctuated from being the second then third most common principal drug of concern over this period, ranging from 21% in 2011–12, peaking at 25% in 2013–14 and falling to 22% in 2020–21.

Treatment

In 2020–21, for treatment episodes in Western Australia:

  • counselling was the most common main treatment (70% of episodes), followed by support and case management 8.0% (Figure WA4; Table ST WA.13).

Western Australia does not differentiate between main and other treatment types.

Over the period 2011–12 to 2020–21:

  • counselling remained the most common main treatment for all episodes. The proportion of episodes where counselling was a main treatment type remained substantially higher in Western Australia than nationally over the period, ranging from 60% to 70% in Western Australia compared with 43% to 38% nationally (Tables ST WA.13, Trt.4)
  • the second most common main treatment type varied between support and case management ranging from 4.4% to 5.6% of episodes and withdrawal management which ranged from 7.1% to 14% over the period.

The grouped horizontal bar chart shows that, in 2020–21, the most common main treatment type provided to clients in Western Australia for their own drug use was counselling (70.3% of episodes). This was followed by support and case management (8.0%) and withdrawal management (7.1%).

Agencies

In 2020–21, in Western Australia:

  • over 9 in 10 (91%) AOD agencies that received public funding were non-government treatment agencies
  • over 3 in 5 (61%) of the 109 treatment agencies were located in Major cities (Figure WA5; Table Agcy.3)
  • Very remote areas were the only areas where there were more government than non-government agencies (6 and 3, respectively).

In the 10 years to 2020–21, the number of publicly funded treatment agencies in Western Australia rose from 63 to 109 (Table Agcy.1).

The horizontal bar chart shows that most treatment agencies in Western Australia were located in Major cities (67 agencies), followed by Outer regional areas (14 agencies) and Remote areas (13 agencies) in 2020–21. Relatively fewer agencies were located in Inner regional areas (6 agencies) and Very remote areas (9 agencies). Of the total 109 treatment agencies, most (99 agencies) were non-government agencies.