Alcohol Policy UK

'Don't let drink sneak up on you' - new Change4Life alcohol campaign launched

A new Change 4 Life alcohol campaign, 'Don't let the drinks sneak up on you', has been launched - see the press release, TV advert and Change4Life alcohol pages including a new tool to check your drinking.

The campaign warns against drinking above lower risk guidelines, highlighting the potential impacts on long term health. A TV advert warns that regularly drinking just 2 large glasses of wine or 2 strong pints of lager a day can triple the risk of developing mouth cancer and double the risk of getting high blood pressure. A supporting leaflet [pdf] is also available to order.

A survey as part of the campaign revealed that most people are unaware of the serious illnesses caused by regularly drinking above the guidelines. For example 85% of people did not realise it increases the risk of developing breast cancer and 59% did not realise it increases the risk of mouth, throat and neck cancer (see press release for more). The campaign follows a recent call for recognition of the need for at least 2 alcohol-free days per week.

Secretary of State, Andrew Lansley said: 

 “It’s crucial we support people to know about how drinking too much poses risks to their health and how they can take control of their drinking. It can be easy to slip into the habit of having a few extra drinks each day, especially when drinking at home. But there can be serious health risks. Don't let drinking sneak up on you.”

Chief Medical Officer Professor Dame Sally Davis said:

"Drinking too much is a major public health issue. This campaign highlights how easy it can be to use a glass of wine or beer to unwind at the end of a busy day but these drinks stack up and can increase your risk of high blood pressure, cancer or liver disease.”

See reports in the Guardian, BBC and The Telegraph.

The campaign follows previous Government-led activity such as the alcohol effects, Know Your Limits (materials here) and support for areas to develop local social marketing activity. Existing alcohol communications are also run through NHS Choices and the industry funded Drinkaware trust.

The campaign had been previously announced as part of the Government's new alcohol strategy to be released later this year. But may health policy groups have expressed concern over an excessive focus on on 'nudge' or 'personal responsibility' approaches delivered in part through the Responsibility Deal. They warn that to significantly reduce alcohol misuse multi-strand action that includes addressing price, availability and marketing must also take place. 

Home Office consultation on late night levy & restriction orders as trade warns of on-trade burden

The Home Office have opened a consultation on new powers due to be brought in under Licensing Act reforms. The consultation is seeking specific responses on the late night levy and Early Morning Restriction Orders (EMROs) as measures to help curb late night drinking problems. See the press release here. 

The consultation asks which types of premises should be covered by Early Morning Restriction Orders, a measure which will allow authorities to restrict the sale of alcohol to any time between midnight and 6am. It also ask which services a licensing authority may fund with the 30 per cent of levy revenue it will retain. The rest of the levy will go to funding police activity.

However BBPA Chief Executive Brigid Simmonds warned the Government against excessive action on the on-trade: “More and more alcohol is drunk at home, yet more and more red tape is heaped on pubs." Concern about the level of regulation being imposed on the pub trade were also raised during pubco debate in the House of Commons last week. 

Health Minister Anne Milton however defended Government action at an event in Parliament where brewers showcased a range of 2.8% ABV beers. Milton said “As a government we do not want to be killjoys but we do have some health problems. We do have a problem with alcohol but it is complicated." Milton said “We are supportive of the pub industry, we are supportive of people having a good time", and expressed hope that the forthcoming alcohol strategy will strike the right balance.

A list of Home Office factsheets on the full licensing changes due are available.

British Liver Trust campaign highlights liver risks of alcohol misuse

The British Liver Trust have a new campaign, www.loveyourliver.org, aiming to promote liver health through good diet and careful alcohol consumption. The British Liver Trust recommend at least two or three alcohol free days in a row each week.

Liver damage is now the 5th largest cause of death in the UK and is on the rise. Many people may not realise drinking above the lower risk guidelines can readily put the liver at risk significant risk - regularly drinking twice the guidelines is said to increase the risk of liver disease by 13 times. In addition, liver damage tends not show any signs or symptoms until later stages.

Chief Executive Andrew Langford stated that new attitudes were needed towards alcohol, and has been critical of Government alcohol policy as not going far enough. Langford also recently caused controversy by suggesting January detoxes won't make a significant improvement to liver health, and are possibly "medically futile". Instead at-risk drinkers should aim to reduce their overall consumption on a more consistent basis.

The British Liver Trust has been running roadshows around the country where the public can have a liver health test and get advice. The website also has video information on reducing the risks to your liver.

A 60% rise in cases of Alcoholic Liver Disease (ALD) in young people over the last seven years was recently reported. See here for a NHS Choices video on liver disease.

DH streamlines public health social marketing for 2012

The Department of Health (DH) will shortly launch public health communications for 2012, taking a 'linked behaviours' approach. It will tailor social marketing operations to follow the life course, instead of focusing on individual behaviour issues.

The strategy, Changing behaviour, Improving outcomes, was published in April 2011 and aims to increase effective communication of public health issues. It was followed by the Change4Life Three Year Social Marketing Strategy which stated the 'alcohol harm reduction campaign will be brought more fully under the Change4Life umbrella, embracing not only the calorific content of alcohol but also the wider health harms of alcohol for adults in mid-life.'

Operations will be supported by two agencies from this month - Freud Communications will manage creative PR for all public health campaigns and MEC will manage media planning. Freud Communications, who already handle PR for the Change4Life campaign, may prove a controversial choice as they also manage PR for Walkers Crisps and KFC.

There are four strands to the strategy, two of which are directly linked with reducing alcohol related harms. Change4Life will focus on diet and exercise issues concerning families and middle aged adults, and from February 2012 it will also include drinking. The Young People strand will focus on 'binge drinking', smoking and risky sexual behaviours.

HAGA alcohol service celebrates thirty years of alcohol treatment and interventions

Courtesy of Laura Pechey, HAGA's Brief Interventions Specialist:

Earlier this month, as part of their Alcohol Awareness Week activity, HAGA celebrated its thirtieth anniversary with an exciting programme of events as part of its Annual Public Meeting (APM). All HAGA’s services and projects were showcased, as well as a service-user art exhibition focusing on stigma, “Growing Recovery” gardening workshops and a mocktail bar. 

Key local and national speakers were also invited to reflect on the last thirty years in the field. Ian McGregor, Clinical Director, HAGA, discussed the challenges faced in setting up HAGA, and Dr John Rohan, Lawrence House Surgery, spoke about attitudes to alcohol in primary care when he was a junior doctor and the sea change brought about by Prochaska and DiClemente’s Stages of Change model in the early eighties. 

Initiative to identify drink spiking in Liverpool

The Royal Liverpool University Hospital is offering free drink spiking testing kits to all patients attending their Emergency or Sexual Health Departments - BBC. The testing kits can detect a range of substances commonly associated with drink spiking, including ketamine, GHB (gamma hydroxybutyrate), cocaine and amphetamine.

The testing strips will change colour when dipped in the drink if other substances are present. Drink spiking can happen to men and women, and can incapacitate the person so that they are vulnerable to robbery or rape. However many cases of suspected drink spiking, thought to be around half, do not involve any drugs other than alcohol.

The strips are being supplied to the Royal Liverpool University Hospital by a cosmetic company working in partnership with the Roofie Foundation who aim to raise awareness amongst professionals and public about the dangers of drink spiking. The Roofie Foundation advise individuals to take practical steps to protect themselves from spiking by never leaving drinks unattended, staying with friends and never going off with strangers. One company offers 'Spikeys' to prevent bottled drinks being spiked.

If a person who suspects their drink has been tampered with vomits, feels drowsy or starts hallucinating then they should alert a trusted friend or member of staff immediately. They may then be advised to visit A&E, taking the suspect drink with them for analysis. See NHS Choices pages on Drink Spiking. Drink spiking is a criminal offence, and holds a maximum of a ten year prison sentence

Drugs used in drink spiking can pass through the system fairly quickly, in 12-48 hours, so anyone who thinks that they may be the victim of drink spiking should report it to the Police as soon as possible. There are indications of serious under-reporting of drink spiking, often due to memory loss and the person feeling unsure or embarrassed that spiking may have taken place. A 2009 Daily Mail article explored to what extent drink spiking was a myth.

Swanswell offer on-line advice for men in Alcohol Awareness Week

Here Swanswell - a national charity which helps people overcome drugs, alcohol and other problematic behaviours - provides a guest report of their activity for Alcohol Awareness Week 2011.

Swanswell joined up with Pfizer's Man MOT during Alcohol Awareness Week (AAW) to offer an on-line alcohol clinic. The Man MOTs are a regular Monday online surgery hosted by live GPs to answer health queries in response to statistics that show that men are less likely to visit a GP than women. 

On Monday 18th November Swanswell offered visitors to the Man MOT site the opportunity to take part in a one-to-one confidential online chat with one of Swanswell's trained staff. This allowed visitors to ask confidential alcohol-related questions, including advice on related health and relationship issues. Visitors were also offered referrals to GPs and other professionals, simultaneously holding virtual surgeries on the site.

In addition to online activity, Swanswell staff also visited a range of community settings during Alcohol Awareness Week, including colleges, shopping centres and a visit to the Scouts to raise awareness about the effects of alcohol. Staff took time to explain the risks of drinking excessively and offered visitors the chance to try "beer goggles" which simulate the effects of drinking too much, or highlighting the damage that alcohol can cause during pregnancy.

Over the last two years Swanswell has also worked with Netmums to provide support to members in their Coffee House forums. Swanswell staff monitor these forums and answer questions posted on the Netmums site by parents. In 2010/11 alone the advice in Swanswell posts was viewed 288,720 times.

Alcohol Awareness Week 2011 - local action and activity round up

Last week Charities, Drug and Alcohol Action Teams, health boards, service providers and many others took part in Alcohol Awareness Week (AAW) 2011. Here's a glimpse at some of the activity that took place.

Alcohol Concern, who lead AWW, highlighted the harm caused by alcohol as part of its Charter for a world free from alcohol harm. Alcohol problems across the UK cost the NHS approximately £48K every minute, with over 100 people admitted to hospital every hour, the national Charity said. More than are 40 people dying every day, and every week over 100 children telephone Child-line affected by their carers drinking.

Regionally, Balance North East ran a conference chaired by Fiona Trott of the BBC exploring the harm to others, especially children, and also held a campaign against advertising targeting young people. Drinkwise NorthWest called for 'alcohol champions', releasing resources to support those acting to reduce alcohol misuse.

Elsewhere, a blog on the new Alcohol Research UK site explored the role of AAW and whether there is a risk of "nannying" through alcohol messages, a subject also previously explored by Phil Mellows. AAW also featured on Eagle Radio who looked at pricing, highlighting alcohol as 75% more affordable today than 30 years ago. Drinkaware did not appear to run anything specific for AAW.

Locally, Sheffield DAAT organised a memorial service in the Cathedral for those who had lost someone due to alcohol, whilst others delivered a "Know your Limits" message. Fylde Borough council amongst others arranged alcohol-free “mocktail” events. In Essex, EYPDAS highlighted that 630,000 under 18yr olds were drinking alcohol twice or more each week in the UK.

ReFresh, an organisation working with young people in Hull highlighted 130 youngsters were admitted to Hull Royal Infirmary with acute intoxication in the past year. Service manager Laura Starky attributed rising problems to the strength, cost and availability of alcohol as ReFresh launched a prevention programme aimed at  3,000 young people. The programme includes work with parents and helps young people make informed choices about the risks of alcohol misuse.

Did you do something you want to share for AAW 2011? Have ideas for AAW 2012? Please leave a comment or get in touch.

Balance speaks out on alcohol advertising targetting young people in the North East

Alcohol advertising is risking the lives and futures of children across the North East by encouraging them to drink early and more, according to a campaign launched this week by Balance, the North East Alcohol Office.

Through its ‘See What Sam Sees’ campaign Balance says it is inviting North Easterners to take a child's eye view and witness the way the alcohol industry is bombarding young people with ads which make drinkers appear popular, successful and attractive. In the region 55% of people already agree that alcohol targets under18s. 

 

The film was ruled it could not be shown on TV as it contravened the Communications Act 2003 since Balance hoped to use the ad to encourage visitors to its website to sign a petition. The petition calls on Government to introduce more meaningful regulations to stop the alcohol industry reaching children and young people through advertising.

Colin Shevills, Director of Balance said: "Our children are brought up in a world where drinking at an early age and consuming large quantities is viewed as 'normal' or 'acceptable' and alcohol advertising plays a central role in this. We need to stop the alcohol industry from recruiting its next generation of drinkers and exposing young people to £800m worth of marketing a year."

Balance is urging North Easterners to visit www.balancenortheast.co.uk and sign its petition which calls out for regulations to:

• Prevent alcohol ads from targeting children and young people
• Prevent alcohol ads from being shown on TV and in the cinema for under 18 certificate films
• Prevent alcohol ads from being shown through social networking sites
• Prevent alcohol sponsorship of sporting and youth events.

Earlier this year Alcohol Concern called for further action to address children and young people's exposure to advertising.

Alcohol Awareness Week 2011, 14th - 20th November

Alcohol Awareness Week (AAW) runs from 14th-20th November, led by Alcohol Concern the national charity on alcohol misuse. 

As part of AAW, Alcohol Concern have launched a Charter for a World Free from Alcohol Harm. It is a call to action on politicians and professionals to campaign for the measures necessary to enable people in the UK to live free from alcohol harms. The measures are based on WHO recommendations and on policies supported by professionals in the alcohol and health fields.

The Charter aims to promote action to reduce the risks alcohol presents to society. It sets out measures such as responsible retailing, ensuring alcohol is not sold at artificially low prices, protecting children from social marketing, limiting the number of new licences, and increasing the identification and support of people suffering from alcohol-related harms.

Alcohol Concern are calling for as many people and groups as possible to sign up to the Charter, so that a real "grassroots" movement is formed. They also want the Charter and its measures to be formally included in the forthcoming National Alcohol Strategy. This, they believe, will ensure that the public health of the nation is always put first, and that we will begin to live in a world which gives each of us the right to live free from the burdens of alcohol abuse.

The publishing of the Charter is the start of a range of activities by Alcohol Concern during Alcohol Awareness Week, which also include the launch of the Youth Report on Advertising and an invitation to share your local activities on their Facebook page.

For more information see here or visit the Alcohol Concern Facebook page. Alcohol Concern have also made a units poster available to help people think about their level of drinking.