However, our findings represent a snapshot in time and stem from managerial
respondents only; as such we are not able to fully assess how these policies were
implemented in practice. As Paton and Foot (2000) observe, organisations may relate to
award or audit systems in a variety of ways and these may not necessarily result in
significant change to practice. In this context the question also arises over whether
such developments would have taken place irrespective of the imposition of QuADs. In
line with the findings of other studies, managers may have used the introduction of the
standards as a lever to introduce changes to policy and practice, even where not strictly
speaking required to attain the award (Paton and Foot, 2000).
These findings show that voluntary sector organisations concerned with the supply
of drug treatment services have found the challenges placed on them by the expansion
in service provision difficult to manage. In particular they have struggled to recruit
suitably qualified and experienced workers, with three-quarters of respondents
indicating difficulties. These findings paint a similar picture to studies conducted in
other parts of the voluntary sector where there has been an increased involvement in
the provision of publicly funded services (Nickson et al., 2008), but suggest a more
pervasive problem than in the sector more generally (Wilding et al., 2003). It is perhaps
not surprisingly that the significant expansion of drug treatment services had had the
effect of exacerbating existing recruitment problems, caused by the apparent stigma
attached to the work and the lack of permanent employment as a result of contract
funding. A surplus of suitably qualified and experienced staff simply did not exist and
given the time lag associated with gaining such qualifications and experience, a
strategy of major expansion in the provision of drug treatment services had, almost
inevitably, created a significant labour shortage.