A DRUG and alcohol recovery service has turned itself around after more people than ever before successfully complete treatment.

It was a different story for Turning Point back in 2013 when Public Health England was called in following concern that Oxfordshire's performance was significantly below the national average.

But the service has now surpassed national targets, with more users taking the road to recovery.

Presenting the latest figures to the Health Improvement Partnership Board on Thursday, senior operation manager Andy Symons said the turnaround was 'fantastic.'

He said: "I was last here in 2015 and obviously with a very different set of figures than I have today.

"We are really pleased with the report and it shows how much we have improved, particularly since the first year we were operating.

"We have got some really good links now with both the magistrate and crown courts in the county.

"At the moment we have 120 community orders where alcohol and drug treatment programmes are part of that order."

In 2015-16 the performance for the number of opiate users who successfully completed treatment was 4.5 per cent.

But in 2016-17 that percentage rose to 8.01 per cent, higher than the national average of seven per cent.

For non-opiate users in Oxfordshire, only 26.2 per cent were completed treatment in 2015-16, whereas in 2016-17, 55.2 per cent were successful – 15.2 per cent more than the national average.

Mr Symons added: "It is exciting going forward in terms of reaching out and getting people into treatments.

"In the past 12 weeks we have had nobody wait longer than three weeks to access our service.

"We've also been working with the police to try and help users, intervene and get them on the treatment courses they need."

Turning Point have been providing county wide drug and alcohol services for the past two years.

It has four dedicated treatment hubs, which provide services six days a week, in Oxford, Banbury, Didcot and Witney and provides nursing input in 30 GP surgeries.

Chairwoman of the board Anna Badcock said the latest figures were a testament to all the hard work staff and volunteers at the service had put in over the last few years.

She added: "This is brilliant news and we are really looking forward to you coming back and hearing how the service is going from strength to strength.

"What is particularly interesting is your work with the police.

"All of your hard work has now paid off."