Useful Information

Drugs and Alcohol National Occupational Standards (DANOS)

Update

The development of DANOS continues with a Qualifications and Assessment Framework, now approved by the Project Board, and the need for additional units identified. These units cover the following areas, and are currently being drafted. They will then be disseminate for consultation prior to being finalised

• Develop, Coordinate, Review care plans with substance misusers who are difficult to engage and/or have multiple/complex needs
• Manage strategies to retain clients in their care plans
• Manage clinical risks in line with agreed policies

Information about DANOS developments can be found by following this link http://www.skillsforhealth.org.uk/danos/.

Studio One was commissioned by Phoenix House to prepare Role Profiles using National Occupational Standards. This covered all of the organisations staff;

• Chief Executive and senior management team
• Finance and administration functions
• All operational staff from Prisons to family and child development workers
• Cooks, cleaners and maintenance staff
• Fundraising, press, marketing and publicity

These used many more Occupational Standards than those included in DANOS, and as a result a range of Sector Skills Councils and owners of the units were contacted. As a result of this work Phoenix House have now changed all the staffs Job Descriptions into Role Profiles, which are not only linked to the tasks people undertake but also the aims of the organisation.

Some of the Role Profiles developed for Phoenix House will be available on this site in the future.

What are DANOS?

DANOS - the Drugs and Alcohol National Occupational Standards - specify the standards of performance that people in the drugs and alcohol field should be working to. They also describe the knowledge and skills workers need in order to perform to the required standard.

Used in a very straightforward way, DANOS standards allow individual workers to be perfectly clear about what is expected of them in their work. Workers can check that they are doing a good job. They can also identify any knowledge they need to acquire or skills they need to develop.

Who are DANOS for?

The Drugs and Alcohol National Occupational Standards are relevant to everyone who is working to improve the quality of life for individuals and communities by minimising harm associated with substance misuse.

The DANOS standards are also applicable to doctors, pharmacists, PSHE teachers, custody sergeants in police stations, medical officers in prisons, social workers and probation officers who regularly work with substance misusers. They will find generic units like AB3 Contribute to the prevention and management of abusive and aggressive behaviour, as well as units covering their specialist areas, eg AH9 Supervise methadone consumption, all highly relevant.

Substance misuse specialists - such as Drug Action Team co-ordinators, commissioners of substance misuse services, drugs and alcohol workers, drug and alcohol education officers, hospital staff working in detoxification units, psychiatrists, psychotherapists, CARATS teams in prisons, Arrest Referral workers in police stations, probation officers supervising offenders under Drug Treatment and Testing Orders - will find the DANOS standards cover all the key aspects of their work with substance misusers. The work of each of these specialists will be different, so it is very important to identify those DANOS units which describe their role

How do you find the right DANOS units for each worker?

All workers, both employees and volunteers, need to know which units from DANOS and other sets of National Occupational Standards describe their job roles - often referred to as their role profile. They can then be confident of the standard of performance expected of them and the knowledge and skills they need. They can take appropriate action to ensure their performance matches this standard.

To create a role profile, follow these simple steps:

1. Take the worker's job description (if they have one), or make a list of their main responsibilities
2. Refer to the list of DANOS units and browse the relevant sub-sections
3. Read the unit commentary of units that appear to be relevant to check that they apply
4. Add relevant units to the worker's role profile
5. If the worker's role is broader that just helping substance misusers, repeat steps 2-3 with other sets of National Occupational Standards
6. Agree with the worker and their line manager that this role profile is an accurate description of what is expected of them.

Who developed DANOS?

DANOS have been developed by Skills for Health, the national body responsible for developing the skills of the workforce in the Health sector, in close association with similar bodies covering Criminal Justice, Personal and Social Services, Housing, Employment, Education and Young People. Hundreds of individuals from agencies in the statutory, voluntary and independent sectors, together with government departments, local authorities, professional associations and education and training providers have contributed, during 2001 and 2002 to the development of DANOS which are now recognised as the National Occupational Standards that apply to all workers in the drugs and alcohol field.

What do DANOS cover?

The DANOS standards describe all the functions and activities involved in improving the quality of life for individuals and communities by minimising harm associated with substance misuse.

There are three main areas in DANOS:

1. Service Delivery
2. Management of Services
3. Commissioning Services.

What is not covered by DANOS?

Whilst the DANOS units cover all the functions and activities involved in working with substance misusers, they do not cover the full range of other activities that workers may be involved in. For example, a probation officer would also require some of the Community Justice Standards, a youth worker some of the Community Work Standards and a CARATS worker some of the Custodial Care Standards.

How can you use DANOS?

Commissioners and agencies can use DANOS to ensure that they have a competent workforce and that everyone has the knowledge and skills to deliver services to the required quality standards. DANOS can help agencies:

• Develop job descriptions and person specifications
• Recruit people with the necessary knowledge, skills and experience
• Provide targeted induction training to bring new workers quickly up to speed
• Identify individual and team development needs, and plan to address these
• Appraise and develop the performance of individual workers and reward them fairly
• Apply common standards of performance and quality across agencies and partnerships.

How do DANOS relate to education and training?

For education and training providers, DANOS offer a ready-made curriculum and set of learning outcomes against which to benchmark their current courses and learning materials or develop new programmes. They can ensure that their programmes meet learners' needs and allow them to achieve nationally-recognised qualifications.

How do the DANOS Standards link to qualifications?

One of the key uses of National Occupational Standards is to provide a nationally-recognised framework for qualifications. The Care, Community Justice Standards and Custodial Care Standards, for example, provide the basis for National Vocational Qualifications (NVQs) and Scottish Vocational Qualifications (SVQs) in Care, Community Justice and Custodial Care, respectively.

Throughout 2003, a Skills for Health project will identify how the current range of qualifications relate to the DANOS, and the level of demand for further qualifications, including not only NVQs and SVQs, but also "cluster" awards to meet the needs of workers who require some knowledge and skills relating to substance misuse to complement their professional qualifications in other sectors.

Up to date information on the development of the qualifications framework, current and emerging qualifications can be found at www.danos.info.

How do DANOS link with organisational quality standards and systems?

National Occupational Standards are unique in that they specify the standard of performance required of individual workers as they carry out their functions.

Organisational quality standards and systems - such as QuADS (Quality in Alcohol and Drugs Services), National Minimum Standards for Care Homes for Younger Adults, Investors in People, ISO 9001:2000 and PQASSO (Practical Quality Assurance System for Small Organisations) - specify the standard of performance and service required of the organisation as a whole.

Naturally there is a link between the two! The organisation must identify, recruit and train the human resources it needs to deliver its mission, and make sure all workers understand their roles and responsibilities and the standards to which they must perform. This is the basis of all organisational quality systems and is made specific in the Investors in People cycle.

If individual workers perform to the DANOS standards, the quality of services delivered by the organisation is assured. QuADS makes direct links between the organisational standard and individual requirements, and the National Minimum Standards for Care Homes require all workers to work to the relevant National Occupational Standards. ISO 9001:2000, PQASSO and other quality standards make similar implicit, if not explicit, links.

There are a number of sites which provide further information on these linkages Alcohol Concern have produced a guide which can be located at www.alcoholconcern.org.uk/files/20041223_150941_Workforce%20paper%20for%20services%20FINAL%20DRAFT%20PDF.pdf.