Residential rehabilitation bed capacity in Scotland, August 2026
This publication reports on the findings from a survey of drug and alcohol residential rehabilitation facilities in Scotland to provide statistics on bed capacity.
Limitations
The total residential rehabilitation bed capacity presented in these statistics represents the maximum number of beds available for adults to receive residential rehabilitation treatment in Scotland at any one time. This should not be interpreted as the number of beds occupied. Actual occupancy may be lower than the maximum for a variety of reasons, including demand and staffing. In addition, the number of available beds at Phoenix Futures Harper House, a specialist family service, may be lower than the maximum capacity presented here depending on the composition of families attending the facility at any given point in time.
Residential rehabilitation operational models vary and some facilities have additional temporary emergency capacity. These emergency beds are not included in the maximum capacity figures reported here. Two facilities reported that they also operate recovery housing; this did not meet the definition of residential rehabilitation used for this survey. Scottish Government analysts are exploring how to account for recovery housing in future monitoring of drug and alcohol treatment services.
This survey was targeted at residential facilities and therefore does not provide insight into the full complement of community-based rehabilitation-like support in Scotland. In addition to residential capacity, some facilities also offer rehabilitation treatment on a day client or outpatient basis. These can provide aftercare support or can benefit clients with caring responsibilities. Day client/outpatient rehabilitation treatment capacity is not included in the maximum bed count and is reported separately from residential capacity in this report.
These statistics provide a snapshot of maximum residential rehabilitation bed capacity as at August 2026. There may have been changes in capacity since the survey closed. For example, some facilities reported anticipated expansions in bed capacity - these planned increases are not reflected in the figures presented. Similarly, any reductions in bed capacity since August 2026 are not reflected in the statistics presented.
The statistics presented here rely on information provided via self-reporting and there may be subjectivity inherent in responses. For example, responses to a question on reasons for beds not being available to publicly funded clients indicated variation in how this question was interpreted. As a result, analysis of these responses has not been included in this report. While data has been validated and quality assured, this survey does not constitute an independent audit of provision.
There is a risk that the survey did not reach all facilities in Scotland that meet the definition of residential rehabilitation. As such, these facilities are not represented in this report.