The All Party Parliamentary Group (APPG) for alcohol misuse has released its first report 'The Future of Alcohol Treatment Services'. The review examines whether recent policy developments have made an impact on treatment delivery and considers what needs to be done to increase longer term access and provision of alcohol treatment.
The APPG report largely considers the ongoing challenges for alcohol treatment as it continues to be under-resourced to varying degrees across the country. This comes despite the increased profile of alcohol-related harm though does recognise some gains for alcohol provision. However the report estimates that on average only 0.1% of Primary Care Trusts' total annual expenditure is spent on alcohol services.
Last year the National Audit Office produced an extensive review of alcohol treatment services with similar findings and recommendations to improve strategic planning and resourcing for alcohol services.
Key recommendations of the All Party Parliamentary Group:
- Government needs clear cross-departmental leadership to tackle England's growing alcohol problem.
- Government needs to measure alcohol harms differently, by targeting a reduction in heavy drinking amongst all age groups and a reduction in alcohol-related crime as well as hospital-related admissions. All primary health care services should understand and be able to deliver Screening and Brief Interventions (SBI).
- All PCT areas should have effective specialist alcohol services which are accessible to local communities.
- Specialist alcohol treatment must meet the needs of all those affected by alcohol misuse.
- There needs to be clear protocols and pathways in place to tackle alcohol misusers with more complex needs.
- In order to tackle alcohol harms, PCTs must understand the scale of the problem they are facing and share data as required.
- The Department of Health should update and reissue existing guidance and support implementation with regional training.
- There needs to be an ongoing training programme for alcohol commissioners.
- Strategic Health Authorities must ensure that PCTs are assessing need in their area and commissioning alcohol treatment commensurate with that need.
- Clear guidelines are required about how different parts of the alcohol treatment sector are to work effectively together.
- The National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence (NICE) should look at how the Quality and Outcome Framework (QOF) for GPs can be amended to help tackle alcohol misuse.
- Access to accurate alcohol misuse and dependency data must become a priority for the Department of Health.
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