Alcohol Policy UK

Know Your Limits: a critical review by peer support forum NERAF

North East Regional Alcohol Forum (NERAF) recently facilitated a service user consultation on the Department of Health/Home Office 'Know Your Limits' campaign.

The Forum considered the consultation process for development of the campaign; the campaign messages; campaign materials; and the communication channels for members of the public wanting more information.

The Forum found:

• No evidence of a consulation process in developing the campaign
• An over-emphasis on the criminal justice agenda - as if binge drinking is only a problem when it leads to anti-social behaviour
• The advice on drinking during pregnancy is a concern; they would prefer to see pregnant women advised  not to drink alcohol at all
• The emphasis on daily limits means the two drink free days a week message is lost
• Dispensers for the campaign cards are of poor quality and of little use
• Receiving more information by text, as suggested in campaign materials, requires people to send personal information by text, which was felt to be inappropriate

Download the report NERAF Service User Consultation on ‘Know Your Limits’

NERAF is an independent peer support charity established to provide long term aftercare and support to those affected by alcohol misuse.  Its aim is to set up self-help groups throughout the North East, with drop-ins and a range of activities to suit the service user. NERAF provides support in group sessions or via its unique 1-2-1 mentoring service, plus training in specialist alcohol mentoring & alcohol awareness.

Alcohol industry news for 29/1/07: Competetion Commission interim report; Co-op responsible retailer; strong beer sales down

• Ten Supermarket chains use alcohol as a loss-leader, the Competition Commission has revealed. The news will come as no shock to the pub industry and in particular All Party Beer Group chairman John Grogan who is leading the fight against cheap supermarket booze. Grocery retailers might use some products as loss leaders to tempt customers into the store at certain times of the year, such as Christmas, or for events such as the World Cup Competition Commission interim report.  The commission’s interim report into supermarket power found that Aldi, Asda, the Co-op, Lidl, Morrisons, Netto, Sainsbury’s, Somerfield, Tesco and Waitrose all engage in below cost selling in two main area – dry groceries (tinned and packet goods) and alcohol. Morning Advertiser  Download reports, submissions, inquiry terms of ref etc from the Competition Commission

• The Co-op has been officially recognised as one of the most socially responsible alcohol retailers after scooping a BII NITA award for the category of Social Responsibilities Award where Consumption is Off the Premises. It also won a second award for Innovation in Training. The BII NITAs are run by BII, the professional body for the licensed retail sector, and are the only nationally recognised training awards for the licensed trade.

The awards aim to recognise and reward training excellence in the trade, and winning a BII NITA is the ultimate endorsement of training excellence. Professor Conrad Lashley CMBII, chairman of the BII NITA judging panel, said of the winner and the award: "Social Responsibility tops the licensed trade agenda at present, and it is fantastic to see such a large company taking responsible alcohol retailing seriously.  Checkout

• As sales of some of the UK's best-selling strong pilsners fell last year, a sea change may be taking place among the country's lager drinkers. So much so, the big brewers have raced to catch up with a new range of weaker brews.  BBC News

Recently in Parliament: has DH dropped the £15M for alcohol?

Caroline Flint has stopped talking about the £15M for alcohol interventions that PCTs have been promised from April.  She is only claiming Department of Health spend of £3.2M (vs £508M for drug misuse).  Should we be worried?

Recent questions in Parliament cover:

• a ban on alcohol advertising
• alcohol use by prisoners on licence
• comparitive Department of Helath spend on alcohol msisue, drug misuse, eating disorders and smoking
• drink driving convictions
• AERC funding transfer
• raising awareness of foetal alcohol syndrome

 

• Sandra Gidley: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport what assessment she has made of the merits of a ban on the advertising of alcoholic drinks (a) on TV and  (b) in print media; and if she will make a statement. [111008]

Mr. Woodward: ....... Ofcom's code amendments, which came into effect on 1 January 2005, significantly strengthened the rules on broadcast alcohol advertising in many areas particularly to protect the under-18s. ..... I understand the ASA and the Committees of Advertising Practice will be conducting further research this year to assess the effectiveness of the new code rules and will assess whether any further changes are required. The Department has made no separate assessment on the merits of an alcohol advertising ban.  Hansard

• Lord Avebury asked Her Majesty's Government:       How many prisoners who are released on temporary licence are subject to a condition that no alcohol will be consumed; and whether the risk assessment which underpins the use of release on temporary licence takes account of the role alcohol played in the offence for which the prisoner was sentenced.

Lord Bassam of Brighton: All temporary release licences include a condition prohibiting the offender from consuming alcohol. In exceptional cases—for example, temporary release to a marriage or religious ceremony—this condition may be omitted from the licence depending on the assessment of risk. Hansard

• Lord Avebury asked Her Majesty’s Government:       Whether they propose to make any changes to the alcohol harm reduction strategy following the publication of a report by National Statistics showing that alcohol-related deaths had more than doubled between 1991 and 2005.

The Minister of State, Department of Health (Lord Warner): My Lords, the Government have a published commitment to revise their alcohol strategy in 2007. ......The Government are working with industry to reach a voluntary agreement to agree sensible drinking messages on containers of alcohol. In October, we launched a “Know Your Limits” TV and other media advertising campaign targeted at 16 to 24 year-olds. Hansard

• Mr. Roger Williams: To ask the Secretary of State for Health (1) how much her Department spent on  (a) eating disorders,  (b) smoking reduction,  (c) alcohol abuse and  (d) drug abuse in the latest year for which figures are available; and what her Department's targets are for hospital and primary care trust spending in each category; (2) what estimates her Department has made of the net cost to the economy of (a) eating disorders, (b) smoking reduction, (c) alcohol abuse and (d) drug abuse.

Caroline Flint: ....The Department launched a tobacco control media campaign in December 1999 and the approximate spend on this in 2006-07 was £12.25 million. ...We also fund the national health service stop smoking services and has allocated £56 million each year for this in 2006-07 and 2007-08...... We are spending £1.7 million in 2006-07 on the “Know your Limits” campaign, which seeks to prevent binge drinking. The Home Office is contributing additional funding. In 2006-07, the Department is also spending £1.5 million on the alcohol identification and brief advice trailblazer programme. This research programme into the effectiveness of screening and brief intervention techniques will run over two years and an equal amount of additional funding will be supplied by the Department in 2007-08. The Department estimates the net cost of alcohol abuse to be £20 billion per year. In 2005-06, we allocated £300 million to the pooled drug treatment budget, and a further £208 million local funding was made available. .....We do not set targets for hospital or primary care trust (PCT) spending. Decisions about spending are made by each PCT. It is for PCTs, in conjunction with their strategic health authorities, to plan and develop services according to the needs of their local communities.  Hansard

• Mr. Burstow: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many people were convicted for (a) drunkenness, (b) driving after consuming alcohol and (c) causing death by dangerous driving when under the influence of drink or drugs in each year since 1997 in (i) England, (ii) each region and (iii) each London borough.

See the answer here:  Hansard and again

• Alcohol Education and Research Council The Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport (Tessa Jowell): Following the Prime Minister's indication that he was content for the sponsorship of the Alcohol Education and Research Council to be transferred from my Department to the Department of Health, the transfer of responsibility took place on 2 January 2007. Hansard

Mr. Dunne: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many under 18-year-olds were treated for alcohol-related health problems in Shropshire in each year since 1991. [114769] Caroline Flint: The number of patients under 18 years old treated for alcohol-related illness in Shropshire during the period 1998 to 2006 is shown in the table.  See Hansard

• Tim Loughton: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what plans she has to raise awareness of foetal alcohol syndrome.

Caroline Flint: Raising awareness of foetal alcohol syndrome is part of the multi million pound “Know Your Limits” alcohol campaign which was launched in October 2006. We have produced a leaflet, “How much is too much when you're having a baby?”, which is being widely distributed across the NHS, and to other frontline agencies on request. It is also available for downloading via the campaign website at www.knowyourlimits.gov.uk. We have engaged a public relations agency to take forward a media campaign to increase awareness of issues pertaining to pregnancy and alcohol.  Hansard

Tackling young people's drinking pt83

• Surrey: Police want to ram home the message that underage alcohol consumption will not be tolerated.  Alcohol consumption in public is currently not allowed in three designated areas in Walton, Weybridge and Hersham or by anyone under 18 as part of the borough's strategy to reduce violent crime. In addition police patrols are visiting licensed premises and patrolling hotspots where under-age or excessive drinking is known to take place.  Elmbridge Neighbourhood Inspector Paul Yearwood said: "Surrey Police is committed to tackling antisocial behaviour and working with communities to target local concerns and neighbourhood problems.  Drunkenness and youth disorder regularly feature as community concerns.  We work with partners and using information from our own patrols and those of Elmbridge Council's accredited staff. We target those areas where young people are drinking. Under-18s will have alcohol seized and their parents notified.  Those over 18 will have their alcohol seized if we believe that they are supplying it to under-18s."  Wimbledon Guardian

• TROUBLEMAKERS in Crediton should be on their guard as police promise to crack down on alcohol-fuelled disorder.  With a new PCSO joining two town centre beat officers and two more patrolling the surrounding area, there is no place to hide for the criminals who are a constant headache in the town.  Last Thursday, police displayed hundreds of bottles and cans of alcoholic drinks which had been confiscated in the Crediton area during 2006.  Currently locked in storage, all the drinks will be poured away.  Police believe the confiscations have helped to keep reported criminal incidents in the town to under 1,000 cases last year.  Acting Sgt Rob Curtis said: "Most of the drink has been confiscated from youths drinking under age, or from people drinking in the alcohol-free zone, mainly the high street area. It's an offence to drink in that area, and if they refuse to hand over we have powers of arrest. We get a lot of complaints from members of the public about drunken youths and this haul shows we are taking a robust attitude to alcohol-related crime.  Mid Devon Star

• A massive haul of booze was seized from children as young as 11 years old on the streets of Bolton. A police operation targeting yobs in the Astley Bridge, Bromley Cross, Breightmet and Tonge Moor confiscated the drink over eight weekends. It includes 400 containers of alcohol - among them are litre bottles of vodka, cans of strong lager and fortified wine. Advertisement     continued... Police said the operation had been successful in taking hundreds of litres of booze from youngsters but officers are increasingly concerned about the number of adults buying drink for children. Some 12 adults were issued with £80 on-the-spot fines for the offences during Operation Pleat. Police also made 12 arrests for public order offences and challenged 450 youngsters about their presence on the street late at night under stop-and-account powers.  This is Lancashire

• Bottles of alcohol which are popular with teenagers are being marked by police with the postcodes of the off-licences which sell them, as part of a pilot project to clamp down on underage drinking. Officers in South Lanarkshire have marked thousands of bottles of drinks such as White Lightning cider and Buckfast with ink invisible to the human eye. When police and neighbourhood wardens catch youngsters drinking, they use ultra-violet lights to identify the marks and verify where the purchase was made. continued... The pilot, which began in East Kilbride, is expected to be rolled out across South Lanarkshire and to other local authority areas. The idea is believed to have the backing of Scottish ministers.  The Herald

Hospital Liaison Symposium 28th March

Adrian Brown, Clinical Nurse Specialist - Alcohol Liaison, at St Mary's Hospital Paddington writes:

On 20th October 2006, the first Substance Misuse Liaison Nurses Conference was held in Birmingham. It was felt that attendees should keep in touch to discuss the issues of such work, especially with current developments in alcohol liaison, local forums will be set up, but some such projects are still isolated, and so an intermediate event was suggested to be held in London in Spring 2007.

The proposed date for this is: Wednesday 28th March in the conference room at the Soho Square Centre for Health and Care (in the heart of Central London). The event will be free to all nurses, drugs or alcohol workers with an interest in hospital alcohol liaison. Other interested parties may wish to enquire about availability of places.

There will be a couple of “keynote” speakers, from within our services – St Mary’s Hospital consultant and champion of A&E liaison, Robin Touquet, will close the day. The main emphasis will be alcohol liaison work in hospitals.

Currently proposed presentations are:

• Development of hospital & A&E liaison services in Camden & Islington.
• Hospital guidelines for alcohol treatment (withdrawal, vitamin supplement etc)
• Wernicke- Korsakoffs Encephalopathy

If you have anything you’d wish to present – or would like to see someone else present  – please let us know as soon as possible.  Contact Adrian Brown (ade.brown AT nhs.net, 020 7886 7663) for more information – no obligation ! 

This will be a free event (subject to people finding their own travel costs) and so we have booked for an 11.00am start until 4.00pm, with the intention of providing food and refreshments at lunch time.

Alcohol treatment news: PAT screening in Norfolk; new service for North Lanarkshire

• People suspected of misusing alcohol when they attend a hospital A&E department are to be advised on the dangers of excess drinking.  Norfolk and Norwich University Hospital A&E department will screen patients for evidence of harmful drinking.  The new screening tool being used is the Paddington Alcohol Test (PAT), first developed at St Mary's Hospital, Paddington, London.  If people are PAT positive, they will be given an information leaflet and offered a follow-up appointment with the substance misuse nurses.  Julia France, who helped develop the system at the Norwich hospital, said: "The screening is designed to pick up those people who might be termed binge drinkers."  BBC News  More on the Paddington Alcohol Test

• The Council on Alcohol - North Lanarkshire was officially opened on 23rd January. Jack Law, chief executive of Alcohol Focus Scotland said: “We are delighted that the Council on Alcohol – North Lanarkshire has been established through excellent collaborative working from all the partners involved. “This is a much needed service for local residents, with the Scottish Health Survey estimating that as many as 30% of men and 12% of women in Lanarkshire are drinking more than the safe recommended limits. Already the counselling service has seen 120 new referrals in the first five months of operation and around 300 people are expected to benefit from the service in the first year”.  Alcohol Focus Scotland

Research news: binge drinking study; DEFRA Food and Expenditure Survey

• British women's binge drinking is clearly defined by their age and education, suggests a large, long term study in the Journal of Epidemiology and Community Health. Educated women binge drink in their 20s, but curb their habits by their 40s. But the reverse is true of women with little education, whose binge drinking is more likely to take off in their 40s, shows the research. But the prevalence of binge drinking remains substantial into adulthood, shows the research, with 31% of men and 14% of women binge drinking at 42 years. Medical News Today

• A Welsh public health chief said today that consumption of fruit and vegetables and some other dietary components are encouraging, at the same time alcohol sales are going down. The latest Food and Expenditure Survey carried out by DEFRA shows that household expenditure on fruit has risen by 12.9% and on vegetables by 6.3%.

Commenting on these figures, Dr Paul Walker, Chair of PHA Cymru, the Welsh Public Health Association said, “ These latest figures are encouraging and suggest that the advice about eating more fruit and vegetables is having an overall impact. The Survey also indicates a drop in expenditure of 3.1% on alcohol purchases which seems to run counter to the generally accepted view that alcohol consumption is steadily increasing."   News Wales  Hear Dr Walker's views on alcohol screening and brief interventions in mainstream health care settings, in a forthcoming Alcohol Policy UK podcast

Tackling alcohol-related crime and asb: Respect zones; targets for Basingstoke; calls to cut drink drive limit

• On Monday the government yesterday renewed its determination to crack down on anti-social behaviour by unveiling 40 "Respect" zones where councils will be given extra help to deal with families and individuals who make life miserable for others. The zones, ranging from Exeter to Newcastle upon Tyne, were selected using indices such as deprivation, high levels of anti-social behaviour, truancy and school exclusion levels. All of the areas, according to ministers, have a strong track record of achievement in tackling anti-social behaviour and its causes.  The Guardian  Home Office press release

• Targets have been set to reduce fear of crime, litter and irresponsible drinking in Basingstoke town centre.  Basingstoke and Deane Borough Council has drawn up a list of areas to tackle over the next five months as part of its night-time economy policy.  The project was launched in 2005 with a widespread public consultation about how to make the town centre a safe and welcoming environment for all sections of the community at night.  An action plan was implemented early last year, but in May, members of the council's economic and community development overview committee said targets needed to be set to measure the progress of the night-time economy project.   

The targets include an 11 per cent reduction in violent incidents in the town centre by 2008, and reducing the average waiting time for a taxi from eight minutes to seven minutes by June 2007.  This is Hampshire

• After around 310 people were caught drink driving every day during December, RoSPA said it was high time the Government agreed to cut the drink-drive limit to protect innocent road users from the menace of alcohol. The Royal Society for the Prevention of Accidents said the figures for the festive campaign carried out in England and Wales showed far too many people were ignoring the safety messages and putting themselves and others at risk.

Duncan Vernon, Road Safety Officer for RoSPA, said: "Reducing the drink-drive limit from 80mg to 50mg would save around 65 lives and 230 serious injuries on Britain's roads each year. Between 50mg and 80mg you are two to two-and-a-half times more likely to be involved in an accident and six times more likely to be in a fatal crash than with no alcohol in your system. "This reduction would give the opportunity for a new education campaign to point out the seriousness of drinking and driving, particularly addressing the worrying problem of the young drivers who apparently have not been getting the message.

"As a result of police action at Christmas and New Year more than 9,600 drivers will probably lose their licence and many of them may lose their job as well - even if they were lucky enough not to kill someone else as a result of their recklessness.   EurOhs

Alcohol Policy UK podcast: reducing alcohol-related health inequalities in Blackpool (APUK07)

00.00 Intro, music by Kaimoku

00.36 feedback on alcohol free days and guidance on sensible limits; comment from David; original 1995 guidance

03.07 Blackpool's alcohol strategy: an interview with Ian Treasure, Alcohol Harm Reduction Policy Officer; Blackpool Alcohol Strategy; strategy Action Plan; HSJ awards; ALTN8 campaign; Know Your Limit campaign; Blackpool Local Area Agreement; Local Alcohol Strategy Toolkit

 

26.10 Get in touch: email us or send an audio comment using waxmail or MP3 to [email protected] leave comment on the site, leave a voicemail on mobotalk (see right hand panel)

26.57 100 Dollar Hangover by Lords of the Highway

 

download the mp3 file (right click on the icon), listen now, or subscribe to the podcast by pasting this code into your podcatcher:

http://feeds.feedburner.com/AlcoholPolicyUk

London: The highs and lows 2 - audio from the launch

 London: The highs and the lows 2 report from the Greater London Alcohol and Drug Alliance (GLADA),  was launched by the Mayor of London at City Hall on Monday 22nd January.

• This second edition of London: The highs and the lows presents information on alcohol as well as drug use in London (the first edition was drugs only).
• The report contains detailed information on the way that drug and alcohol use in London differs from the UK as a whole, and also on the variations across London.
• It reveals the complexity of the challenges London faces and re-emphasises the necessity for partnership working to reduce the harm caused by drug and alcohol use.
• Working with GLADA, the Mayor is committed to publishing one 'Highs and Lows' report in each Mayoral term and to continuing to support their wider programme of work.

Download the report from here.

Speakers at the launch featured in the audio file below (timings in brackets) were:

• Mayor of London, Ken Livingstone (0.00)
• Outgoing independent Chair of GLADA, John Grieve (9.08)
• Interim Chief Executive for NHS London, Ruth Carnall (13.48; talking about the need to get the balance right for alcohol at 16.55)
• John Grieve again, introduced by Ken Livingstone (22.48)

download the mp3 file (right click the icon), listen now, or subscribe to the Alcohol  Policy UK Podcast by pasting this code into your podcatcher:

http://feeds.feedburner.com/AlcoholPolicyUk