Programme of improvements update

Choosing Health: the delivery plan for alcohol was published in November. The plan, Alcohol Misuse Interventions: Guidance on developing a local programme of improvement, focuses on early interventions for hazardous drinkers and harmful drinkers.  Developments for dependent drinkers will follow.  Highlights from the Guidance:

• PCTs can use the framework for developing local plans set out in National Standards, Local Action: Health and Social Care Standards and Planning Framework 2005/06-2007/08 to prioritise alcohol interventions according to local need
• £15M per annum to be included within PCTs’ general allocation from 2007/08 onwards to help PCTs improve their local arrangements for commissioning and delivering alcohol interventions
• Workforce education and skills to be developed within the national workforce strategy and competency framework
• Comprehensive communications programme to help NHS organisations, local authorities and others learn about developing alcohol interventions

Practical steps for PCTs that are suggested in the Guidance:

• assess local need and current provision
• identify a lead commissioner and local champions
• consider appointing Alcohol Intervention Specialist G or H grade nurses to coordinate and implement screening and brief interventions publish a guide to services

Regionally, each Government Office is to hold a conference to roll out the Programme of Improvements.  One or two have happened already; the rest will follow in March and April.

Models of Care for Alcohol (MOCAM): publication is said to be imminent

Effectiveness Review of Alcohol Interventions: currently being readied for publication, expect to see it early Summer

Alcohol Needs Assessment Research Project (ANARP): published last November.  This was more a prevalence study than a needs assessment, giving regional prevalence of alcohol disorders and the current number of specialist treatment services.  More detailed information than that published is said to be available to Public Health Observatories.  Download ANARP here.

Needs assessment toolkit: a web based toolkit is soon to be available from North West Public Health Observatory.  This is likely to build on the NWPHO's work on assigning alcohol-attributable factors to a wide range of conditions (Taking Measures, here); Yorkshire and Humber PHO have produced a regional needs assessment that sets the benchmark for now, here.

Screening and brief interventions trailblazers: a consortium led by Colin Drummond at St George's has been commissioned to run the year-long sbi pilots in a variety of health and criminal justice settings.  The pilots haven't started yet; the Dept of Health has still to release funding.

nGMS: alcohol has not made it into the revised Quality and Outcomes Framework for 2006.  Rumour has it this may be rectified in the 2008 revision, thus making alcohol screening and brief interventions part of nGMS GPs' core work.  At last!

Specialist treatment: the focus is very much on hazardous and harmful drinkers at present, not those in most need of specialist alcohol services.  PCTs are expected to map pathways and assess need for treatment but there is no sign of funding for developing specialist services.

 

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