Why do we need to tackle excessive drinking?
Harmful drinking is a major cause of disease, injury, disability, violence (especially domestic violence), social problems and premature death. It is associated with an increased risk of a wide range of health problems including brain damage, cancer, liver disease, heart disease and mental and behavioural disorders.
Drinking in the South East
- there were over 3,500 alcohol-attributable deaths in the region 2004
- in 2004 there were over 600 deaths from stroke where alcohol was a contributory factor
- women in the south east have higher than the national average alcohol-attributable mortality rate
- recent trends show that alcohol-attributable death rates for men in the region have increased subastantially between 1996-2004
- between 1998/9-2002/3 there were almost 17,500 hospital admissions in which alcohol was recorded as a contributory factor.
A more detailed overview of alcohol consumption and its impact in the South East can be found in the Choosing Health in the South East: Alcohol report.
Costs of drinking
There are societal, economic, family and personal costs associated with excessive drinking. Society pays a high price in terms of the impact of alcohol related violence and crime on communities. For the individual the length and quality of life are affected. For their families the consequences of alcoholism include abuse and neglect. For the NHS, there is the high cost of treating alcohol related injury and associated diseases such as cancer and liver diease. For businesses, a considerable number of working days are lost through alcohol related ill health. There is also the additional cost of sickness and invalidity benefits provision.
The economic impact of excessive alcohol consumption is significant:
- it is estimated that alcohol related crime and disorder costs up to £7.3 billion a year nationally
- it costs £1.7 billion a year to treat alcohol related injury and illness nationally
- it is estimated that 17 million working days were lost in 2003 due to alcohol-related sickness absence, costing £6.4 billion nationally
- in 2005 approximately 4,400 people in the Sout East claiming incapacity benefit or severe diability allowance had a diagnosis of alcoholism. The numbers are higher than the national average and fourth highest of the nine English regions.
The Alcohol Harm Reduction Strategy
The Alcohol Harm Reduction Strategy for England published in 2004 set out the the Governments strategy for tackling the harms and costs of alcohol misuse in England. The aim of the strategy was to prevent any further increase in alcohol-related harm. The strategy identified four priority areas:
- improving health and treatment
- education and communication
- tackling crime and disorder
- working with the alcohol industry
Since the publication of the Alcohol Harm Reduction Strategy a progress and next steps report has also been published. Safe. Sensible. Social: Next Steps in the National Alcohol Harm Reduction Strategy intends to deliver on three aims:
- to ensure that the laws and licensing powers introduced to tackle alcohol-fuelled crime and disorder
- to focus on the minority of drinkers who cause or experience the most to themsleves, their communities and their families (young people under 18 who drink alcohol, 18-24 year old binge drinkers, harmful drinkers)
- to work together to shape the environment that actively promotes sensible drinking, through investment in better information.
The majority of those who drink alcohol do not consume too much, only a proportion (30%) of those who drink alcohol actually consume to excess. The revised strategy is focused on tackling consumption amongst the proportion of drinkers who consume above sensible limits regularly. It aims to support a shift away from a culture of binge drinking towards sensible drinking within clearly defined limits i.e. 3-4 units per week for men and 2-3 units per week for women. It also seeks to reduce alcohol related crime and disorder.
The Public Health White Paper
The Public Health White Paper - Choosing Health: Making Healthier Choices Easier recognises the problems associated with excessive alcohol consumption and endorses the programme of work set out in the Alcohol Harm Reduction Strategy. The White Paper identifies Local Strategic Partnerships (LSPs) and Local Area Agreements (LAAs) as vehicles to promote joint working and to make the best use of available funding in order to improve the public's health.
Tackling alcohol related crime and disorder in the South East
The South East Public Health Group (DH), the Community Safety Team (Home Office) and emergency department colleagues (NHS) are working to implement the community violence prevention model developed by the Cardiff Violence Prevention Group. A project is underway to support emergency department staff in the South East to collect alcohol related assault data which is then shared with Crime and Disorder Reduction Partnerships (CDRPs) to enable them to target alcohol related crime and disorder in the region.
Information collected by emergency departments is useful because many alcohol related assaults are not reported to the police but the injuries sustained in those assaults are often treated by hospitals. The information collected by emergency departments combined with police information provides a clearer picture of alcohol related crime and disorder in an area. There is evidence to show that the sharing of information between agencies can reduce assaults, thereby also reducing alcohol related injury admissions to emergency departments. Twenty two hospitals in the South East are currently involved in implementing this violence prevention model.
Safer Streets campaign
South Central Strategic Health Authority, Hamphire Constabulary and Thames Valley Police are running a year-long campaign called Safer Streets to highlight the dangers of too much alcohol. The campaign, launched on the 8 May 2007, combines education initiatives with police enforcement. Activity targets underage drinking, anti-social behaviour, binge drinking, violent crime, the health effects of drinking and the impact on the NHS.
For further information about work to tackle to excessive drinking in the South East contact David Sheehan, Development Manager, South East Public Health Group.
