Detoxification and other support available in residential rehabilitation settings
This report presents findings from a survey of residential rehabilitation providers in Scotland. It seeks to establish the current provision of detoxification across residential rehabilitation facilities and explores how these services operate and are governed.
2. Methodology
Health and Social Care analysts developed a survey of residential rehabilitation providers in consultation with the Future of Residential Rehabilitation Working Group[4] and Public Health Scotland (PHS). It comprised 44 single option, multiple choice and open text questions designed to suit to the exploratory nature of this research on topics such as residential capacity, referrals, the type of support offered, delivery models and governance arrangements. The questions relating to the data in this report are provided in Appendix A. The survey also employed routing to minimise respondent burden.
The survey was hosted on the online survey platform Questback and a link was distributed by email to all known residential rehabilitation facilities in Scotland. Residential rehabilitation facilities were identified through a scoping exercise informed by previous research, supplemented with desk research and ongoing consultation with the working group, alcohol and drug policy officials and PHS. This approach ensured that recent development activity to increase residential rehabilitation capacity since the 2024 survey was accounted for. Recipients were also asked to forward the survey to any other residential rehabilitation facilities they were aware of.
Data collection took place between 5 September and 14 October 2025. Follow-up emails and calls were made to providers that had not initially responded to ensure they had the opportunity to participate. Responses were received from all 28 residential rehabilitation facilities the Scottish Government is aware of. All facilities meet the definition of residential rehabilitation agreed by the Residential Rehabilitation Development Working Group:
‘facilities offering programmes that aim to support individuals to attain an alcohol or drug-free lifestyle and be integrated into society, and that provide intensive psychosocial support and a structures programme of daily activities that residents are required to attend over a fixed period of time.’[5]
One facility self-described as partly aligning with this definition. However, based on a review of the publicly available information about their service and a follow-up conversation to better understand their model of delivery, we are confident that this facility meets the agreed definition of residential rehabilitation. All other facilities reported that they “completely” align with the definition.
Validation and quality assurance concluded in February 2026.