Development of a needs-based planning model to estimate required capacity of a substance use treatment system: A Canadian model

This presentation describes the Canadian prototype and recent enhancements of a Needs-Based Planning model and offers examples and lessons learned in pilot work. The need for treatment was defined according to five categories of problem severity derived from national survey data and anticipated levels of help-seeking estimated from a narrative synthesis of international literature. A pan-Canadian Delphi procedure was employed to allocate this help-seeking population across an agreed upon set of treatment service categories - four levels each of withdrawal management, community and residential treatment services. The model and gap analysis were piloted in several regions and results triangulated well with other indicators of need. Lessons learned from pilot testing were identified including challenges with the model itself and those associated with its implementation.