Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what specialist gambling-related addiction services the NHS currently operates.
The NHS Long Term Plan announced the creation of 15 new specialist gambling treatment clinics. There are currently five specialist clinics in operation: the National Problem Gambling Clinic in London; a children and young persons’ provision at the National Problem Gambling Clinic; the Northern Gambling Service in Leeds; and satellite clinics in Manchester and Sunderland.
National Health Service expenditure on the specialist clinics was £1 million in 2019/20, £1 million in 2020/21 and £3 million in 2021/22. Data on the number of patients treated by the NHS for gambling addiction is not held centrally. The NHS does not receive money directly from the gambling industry. Until 1 April 2022, the London and Leeds clinics were partially funded by GambleAware, an independent charity supported by voluntary donations from the gambling industry. GambleAware contributed £1.2 million per year to the NHS clinics in 2019, 2020 and 2021.