Choosing Health progress report

The public health white paper, Choosing Health, published in 2004, set out a commitment to reduce health inequalities and better tailor health and care services to meet individual needs. It set out action that individuals and organisations could take to make this a reality. Reducing harm and encouraging sensible drinking was one of six Choosing Health priority areas.

The Department of Health has published a progress report for May 2007, download via here. Original delivery plan here.

Choosing Health and the alcohol strategy for England (AHRSE) have brought ANARP, MOCAM, Alcohol Misuse Interventions, Effectiveness Review of treatment.  However, some of the timeframes for outstanding actions have been revised for the May progress report - notably, the SIPS programme of research on screening and brief interventions is 'on track' for implementing its (interim) findings from April 08 despite the original commitment to complete the research by July 2007.

The original Choosing Health plan included a commitment to "build on the commitments within the AHRSE through guidance and training to ensure all health professionals are able to identify alcohol problems early".  The May progress report says a two-year undergraduate programme was finished in November 2006.  It does not mention the orginal commitments on:

• undergraduate training modules for nurses
• postgraduate training programmes
• Training Champions

Perhaps this means these plans have been dropped.

Curiously, one commitment that never looked likely in the first place has not been expunged from the progress report.  "We will build on the commitments within AHRSE through developing a programme of improvement.........These initiatives will be supported, from April 2006, through additional funding provided through the Pooled Treatment Budget for Substance Misuse".  What was that all about then?

Comments

[anon]

Oh so the £15 million was originally going to be in the PTB! There might have been an actual decent chance for it to have go towards alcohol then, instead of the impossibility of getting any of this money that anyone who has tried will know (now included in the overall PCT budget). Thanks alot for raising our hopes and giving us nothing!