Alcohol misuse (health and wellbeing needs in South Tyneside)

• South Tyneside is consistently higher than the England average across the range of alcohol related indicators; however there are some areas that require a more concentrated effort. 

These include:

• alcohol related mortality
• hospital admissions due to alcohol related cardiovascular disease
• hospital admissions due to  alcoholic liver disease
• alcohol specific related unintentional injuries
• Key issues in relation to alcohol include its:  
  • affordability
  • availability
  • accessibility
• We know that as a result of the above people drink too much alcohol and they do not often associate it with harm. There are numerous myths and perceptions around alcohol and people are not always aware of the levels or frequency they are drinking at. It's important to realise that the harms of alcohol have a huge effect on the economy and levels of crime as well as health.
• There is a clear link between alcohol abuse and homelessness which has a significant impact on public service cost, and the perceived impact of welfare reform and Universal Credit on alcohol consumption.
• Identification and Brief Advice is one of Public Health England's high impact changes to encourage people to drink less.  There is a very large body of research evidence supporting Identification and Brief Advice (IBA) in primary care (including at least 56 controlled trials (Moyer et al., 2002). A Cochrane Collaboration review (Kaner et al., 2007) provides substantial evidence for the effectiveness of IBA.
• IBA can also be effectively implemented in a number of settings including:
  • A&E Departments - possibly with the use of Alcohol Liaison Nurses or Alcohol Health Workers
  • Specialist settings - e.g. maxillofacial clinics, fracture clinics
• For every eight people who receive simple alcohol advice, one will reduce their drinking to within lower-risk levels (Moyer et al., 2002).  Patients who received IBA in A&E made 0.5 fewer visits to the A&E during the following 12 months (Crawford et al., 2004).
• Future commissioning arrangements for training provision will need to consider the continuation of capacity building within the broader system to deliver on IBA, whilst strengthening the current arrangements to include monitoring the impact. 
• South Tyneside is the 5th highest in the Country for adults in specialist alcohol treatment services. And while this highlights the above average rate of alcohol harm, however in part, the high rate can be seen as a high quality of local service provision.