Summary of findings

The 2002 evaluation for patients of Fife Health Board admitted between 12th December 1999 and 12th March 2002.

  • 60 alcohol-dependent patients from the Fife area entered Castle Craig Hospital between 12th December 1999 to 12th March 2002 and stayed in treatment for more than 3 days.
  • 49 of these were followed-up on average about 1.3 years later. 90% improved, 6% remained the same, and 4% got worse.
  • Their average length of stay in primary treatment was 5.3 weeks. 20% then went on to extended care were their average length of stay was 10.4 weeks.
  • These patients were generally quite dysfunctional at intake. The average intake CISS total score of the 49 patients was 11 and their greatest problems were with alcohol use, lack of support, poor health, psychological problems and lack of occupation.
  • Few patients had problems with criminal involvement and sexual risk behaviour.
  • Females were more likely than males to have psychological problems and males were more likely than females to be unoccupied and criminally involved. There were no other significant differences between average CISS item scores of males and females.
  • Patients were generally more dysfunctional than those attending an outpatient alcohol service (based on the CISS comparison scores for drinkers, average = 8 see Appendix).
  • The average follow-up CISS score was 4, thus indicating highly significant improvement.
  • Higher CISS scores at intake did not predict poorer treatment outcome. This indicates that patients can benefit from this treatment intervention regardless of their initial levels of dysfunction.
  • Reductions in alcohol use at follow-up were accompanied by improvements in all other CISS domains.
  • Even those who were not totally abstinent at follow-up appeared to have benefited from their experience in treatment, probably by gaining a period of respite during which to recover from the consequences of their excessive drinking.
  • The following ‘success’ rates for all patients from Fife are conservatively based on the assumption that the 11 patients not followed-up all showed no improvement or otherwise had poor outcomes.
  • Being totally abstinent from all drugs or alcohol at follow-up 45%
  • Achieving low problem severity at follow-up (CISS < 6, see appendix) 55%
  • Showing any reduction in measured levels of dysfunction 73%

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