Alcohol misuse (health and wellbeing needs in South Tyneside)

• Investing in alcohol interventions saves money.  A recent Public health England publication Why Invest demonstrates:
• Every 5,000 patients screened in primary care may prevent 67 A&E visits and 61 hospital admissions Costs £25,000 Saves £90,000.
• One alcohol liaison nurse can prevent 97 A&E visits and 57 hospital admissions Costs £60,000 Saves £90,000.
• Every 100 alcohol dependent people treated can prevent 18 A&E visits and 22 hospital admissions Costs £40,000 Saves £60,000.
• PHE have also illustrated how interventions may lead to better public health outcomes across the public health outcome framework domains, this can be found in this assessments associated slide pack.

Alcohol Treatment and brief intervention

• Interventions aimed at helping individuals can help make people aware of the potential risks they are taking at an early stage. This is important, as they are most likely to change their behaviour if it is tackled early.
• The use of screening is recommended to identify people who are not seeking treatment for alcohol problems but who may have an alcohol-use disorder.
• Structured brief advice included in MECC training only takes minutes to deliver and early intervention could prevent extensive damage.
• The public health burden of alcohol: evidence review considers the impact of alcohol on the public health and the effectiveness of alcohol control policies