Alcohol Policy UK

'Alcohol and sex: a cocktail for poor sexual health' - report highlights missed opportunities within Sexual Health settings

A new report from the Royal College of Physicians (RCP) and British Association for Sexual Health and HIV (BASHH) warns of significant missed opportunities to tackle alcohol misuse in sexual health services - BBC report.

Download Alcohol and sex: a cocktail for poor sexual health 

It says more than one million young people attend sexual health clinics each year, presenting a unique opportunity to communicate key messages alcohol messages and the delivery of brief interventions (IBA). The report highlights evidence linking alcohol consumption to poor sexual health, particularly in the young:

• 82% of 16-30 year olds report drinking alcohol before sexual activity
• People who drink heavily are more likely to have unprotected sex with multiple partners
• 20% of white 14-15-year-old girls report going ‘further than intended' sexually when drunk.

The report highlights 16-24 year olds make up just 12% of the population, yet they account for nearly half of the sexually transmitted infections diagnosed in sexual health clinics.

Key recommendations from the report include:

• Sexual health services should provide information that highlights the link between alcohol consumption and poor sexual health outcomes and signpost sources of useful advice on drinking sensibly
• All clinicians providing sexual health services should be trained in asking about drinking habits through use of a recognised screening tool
• All sexual health services should develop a robust care pathway to refer patients for further support, including local alcohol services
• New commissioning arrangements should ensure that the service specifications for sexual health in primary care and specialist services include opportunistic alcohol screening and brief interventions for young people.

A resource pack for Delivering IBA in Sexual Health settings was recently released by Sexual Health South West and NHS South of England.

IBA in Sexual Health Settings Resource Pack

A resource pack outlining the case and key resources for delivering 'Identification and Brief Advice' (IBA) in Sexual Health Settings has been released.

Download the Delivering Alcohol Identification and Brief Advice in Sexual Health Settings RESOURCE PACK

The pack was developed to support commissioners of sexual health and/or alcohol services and those delivering alcohol IBA in sexual health settings. It was developed in partnership between NHS South of England and Sexual Health South West.

It coincides with the recent release of Alcohol and sex: a cocktail for poor sexual health, a report highlighting the missed opportunities to respond to alcohol misuse within sexual health settings - see the press release here.

See the South West alcohol pages here or more information on IBA here.

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.

Protect children from alcohol misuse: Turning Point call for early intervention

The health and social care provider Turning Point has said alcohol misuse within families is an escalating concern in its new report "Bottling it up: the next generation". It says early screening and identification of families is needed urgently to prevent the ‘inter-generational cycle’ of alcohol misuse which blights the lives of children and undermines their life chances. 

Up to 2.6 million children live with parents who drink at "hazardous" levels and around 700,000 children are thought to live with dependent drinkers. As picked up in the Daily Express, pressure put on women to be "supermums" was felt to be increasing alcohol use as a coping mechanism. Turning Point said more than 5,000 people who used their alcohol treatment services last year were parents. 

The report says children of parents who misuse alcohol are more at risk of depression, anxiety and increased anger. Turning Point also highlighted JRF research which found that children who see their parents drunk are twice as likely to get drunk themselves. Children living with drinking parents are also more likely to experiment at an early age with alcohol and drugs, increasing the risk of their own later life substance problems. 

In the report Turning Point call on the Government to place a duty on Local Authorities to develop strategies that take into account the harms to family life and children's development. They also advocate the development of services which are more family focused and home-based, better liaison between adult and children's services, and more information available to help affected children.

The charity Adfam exist to improve the quality of life for families affected by drug and alcohol use - and have a find help here page. Alcohol Concern's Embrace project was set up to develop better policy and practice around alcohol and children, families and domestic abuse. Embrace pilots aimed to develop a more family-focused approach to their clients and to take account of domestic violence and abuse throughout their work.

Further alcohol-related reports and guidance related to children and young people can be found here on the Alcohol Learning Centre, including the CMO guidance or see the Drinkaware web-page for parents.

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.

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.

Drinkaware release 'In:tuition' life-skills based teaching resource and parents section

The industry funded body Drinkaware has released a 'life-skills based interactive teaching resource' called In:tuition, which includes a series of lesson plans and supporting resources.

A press release said the "cross-curricular programme builds the esteem, confidence and decision-making skills of students aged 9 to 14 so they can make more informed decisions about a range of issues – including alcohol, sex and relationships, personal finance, health and civic responsibility." The resource itself says: "The programme aims to build young people's confidence, personal and social skills and help them explore how they make decisions and what might influence them".

Drinkaware say the average age of first unsupervised drink is just under 14 years old so ensuring young people have life-skills from an early age can help them make responsible choices. It claims 'life-skilled' based approaches are effective based on a Cochrane review of school-based alcohol misuse prevention programmes. A recent Findings bulletin assessed the evidence that schools-based prevention worked best when it didn't target alcohol.

Drinkaware have also released a parents section, which "will help explain why, when and how to start talking to your child about alcohol, whatever their age. It will also give you the facts you need to feel more confident in keeping up an ongoing dialogue about responsible drinking throughout your child’s teenage years." It also says "the more information your child has, and the earlier they get it, the better." See reports from the BBC and The Sun.

The NHS had previously ran a campaign called 'Why let drink decide?' to encourage parents to talk to their children about alcohol, but the webpages have been closed. NHS Choices offers some guidlines and FAQs for parents. CMO guidance advises an alcohol-free childhood as best.

Alcohol Concern calls for restrictions on alcohol advertising affecting children and young people

A survey of 2,300 young people published by Alcohol Concern said most respondents wanted more protection from alcohol advertising. Alcohol Concern said there is recognition of a need to protect under-18s from exposure to alcohol promotion, although children and young people as young as 11 are regularly exposed to alcohol advertising. 

See here for the report 'Overexposed and overlooked'

Alcohol Concern says that the government needs to reduce the "cumulative exposure" of young people to "positive drinking messages". Don Shenker of Alcohol Concern said:

"If one of the aims of alcohol marketing regulations is to protect children and young people from exposure to advertising then government needs to ask itself whether the current framework is fit for purpose."

Young people said they recognised the influence of cinema and TV advertising, asking for better restrictions, such as no alcohol advertising before the 9pm TV watershed. They also wanted a reduction in positive imagery related to alcohol and clearer labelling on drinks which highlighted the risks. Few of those surveyed said they recognised so-called "below the line" advertising such as alcohol advertising on football shirts.

The report also looks at social network sites and internet accessibility of alcohol sites for under 18s. Alcohol Concern also recently produced a report highlighting the realm of new social media in advertising in its report New media, new problem?. A recent JRF report also explores the influence of media on young people.

However, calls to protect young people from alcohol harms are not new nor restricted to advertising influence. Demos recently called upon parents to protect their children through good parenting, stating that "bad parenting" of young people up to the age of 10 years led to an increased risk of excessive drinking when these youngsters reached their 30s. Amongst requests to parents to encourage "sensible and responsible expectations" towards alcohol, they also called on the Government to make it harder for children to obtain alcohol.

In 2007 Martin Plant and the ESPAD survey reported that the UK had some of the highest levels of teen binge drinkers in Europe and highlighted some of the risks they were facing. But earlier this year a survey suggested fewer 11-15 year olds were drinking, although the trend for those that do drink is unclear.

The Alcohol Learning Centre has a Children and Young People section including a 2010 DCSF report and the CMO guidance advising an alcohol-free childhood. Search the Findings bank here for research bulletins.

'Mixed messages': Alcohol Concern warning over alcohol and energy drinks

A new briefing paper from Alcohol Concern Wales has warned of possible dangers of mixing highly caffeinated drinks with alcohol. In particular it suggests caffeine in energy drinks can mask the effects of alcohol, meaning that drinkers may be less aware of how drunk they are, and more likely to put themselves in danger.  

Download the Mixed messages briefing paper or see the press release.

An Alcohol Concern spokesperson highlighted a rising trend in energy drink sales and an overall lack of awareness about caffeine content. A 500ml energy drink may contain 160mg of caffeine - the equivalent of a double espresso or five cans of Coca-Cola. Andrew Misell warned:

“Both caffeine and alcohol are diuretics – they cause the body to pass water – so mixing energy drinks with alcohol can leave drinkers badly dehydrated, possibly leading to vomiting, nausea, and other health problems in the long term.
 
“What’s more dangerous, perhaps, is that the stimulant effect of so much caffeine can mask the depressant effect of the alcohol. People drinking energy drinks with alcohol may feel very alert and not realise how drunk they are. One possible result of this is that drinkers will take more risks.
 
“A study in the USA found that students drinking alcohol mixed with energy drinks were four times more likely to intend to drive compared with drinkers who had consumed alcohol without energy drinks.”
 
Alcohol Concern Wales’s Drink Wise Wales website contains an alcohol and energy drink counter outlining the amount of alcohol, caffeine and sugar in common energy drink cocktails.

Alcohol advertising on YouTube ‘out of control’ says marketing agency

Children of any age with access to YouTube can instantly view alcohol-related content and on average, 6% of the views of adult-orientated content are by 13 to 17 year olds, according to statistics released by London-based digital agency www.AccuraCast.com. See the press release here.

The research says that if a beer or spirits commercial has had 10 million views on YouTube, on average, 600,000 children under the age of 17 will have seen it. Not only is access to content simple but as YouTube is worldwide and largely unrestricted, underage children are also able to watch alcohol promotions that link booze to sports and music celebrities and even banned advertisements that promote alcohol as ‘cool’.

Farhad Divecha, MD of AccuraCast said “Our research shows that YouTube has lost control of its alcohol related content and that YouTube alcohol uploads currently break every social taboo and regulation in the book.”

The statistics follow on from a recent Alcohol Concern report New Media, New Problem? which called for greater controls on alcohol and tobacco content in social media networks. Alcohol Concern have since called on Facebook to take further action, including baning official alcohol brand pages.