Assessment of an urgent admission procedure to an in-patient drug dependence unit

An Urgent Admission Procedure has recently been introduced in the In-patient Drug Dependence Unit. No difference in effectiveness (in terms of duration of stay of patients) is found when compared with the lengthier Normal Admission Procedure. However, those Urgent Admission patients who did not complete their drug withdrawal failed at an earlier stage of the withdrawal phase. Certain issues concerning the interpretation of the findings, the introduction of this scheme, its apparent benefits and the limitations of the research design are discussed. It is suggested that there is a need for such a service.