Alcohol Policy UK

Statistics on Alcohol England 2020: alcohol-related admissions continue to rise

The annual Statistics on Alcohol for England 2020 has been released, detailing national data for key alcohol-related indicators and health harms including the latest Local Alcohol Profiles for England (LAPE) data update.

On the key headline figures of hospital admissions, a continued rise in the broad measure brings annual alcohol-related admissions to a new peak of 1.26 million, 8% higher than the previous year. Increases in the rate have been observed every year for over a decade, first passing the million mark in 2010. Alcohol-related episodes now reflect 7.4% of all hospital admissions. See IAS Twittery summary here and Daily Mail story.

'Positive sobriety', Dry January & the rise of alcohol-free in 2020

It's hard to imagine many people won't have heard about Dry January this month as the alcohol-free trend appears to go from strength to strength. At least that appears to be the case for younger generations where rising numbers of teetotallers mark a significant departure from the picture of the alcopop-fuelled binge Britain around the high-tide of the millennium.

Alongside Dry January, a wider movement has also been flourishing, most recently dubbed the 'positive' or 'new sobriety' movement. Under this umbrella, a range of organisations, support groups, hashtags, 'quit-lit', alcohol-free drinks and events have continued to emerge at a seemingly ever-increasing rate.

AHA launch Commission for Alcohol Harm evidence call

The Alcohol Health Alliance UK (AHA) is supporting a Commission on Alcohol Harm, chaired by Baroness Finlay of Llandaff and made up of a panel of expert practitioners, cross-party parliamentarians and health leaders.

The Commission on Alcohol Harm has been established to examine the current evidence on alcohol harm, recent trends in alcohol harm and the changes needed to reduce the harm caused by alcohol. The Commission will also examine the need for a new comprehensive UK-wide alcohol strategy, highlighting there has been no national alcohol strategy for England and Wales since 2012.

NHS hospital Alcohol Care Team guidance released

A set of resources relating to the delivery of hospital-based Alcohol Care Teams (ACTs) has been released.

The guidance, co-produced with Public Health England (PHE), follows a commitment in the NHS Long Term Plan (LTP) earlier this year to establish ACTs in hospitals with the highest rate of alcohol dependence-related admissions.

A summary document [pdf] sets out the role of ACTs as part of an effective local area alcohol treatment system, also supported by a core service descriptor [pdf], a case study example [pdf], and a checklist for commissioners [XLS].

The guidance states admission to hospital is 'often the first time alcohol dependence is identified and diagnosed as an underlying or primary condition, so hospital admission provides an ideal opportunity for early intervention and access to more comprehensive alcohol treatment.'

Further minimum pricing evidence: positive effects as predicted?

Two further pieces of evidence have been released indicating the early stage effects of minimum pricing in Scotland, including an analysis on consumer purchasing data and an NHS Health Scotland evaluation of the impact on alcohol retailers and purchasers. 

Published in the BMJ, an analysis of the immediate impact on alcohol purchases in Scotland utilised samples of household purchasing data including England as a control group. Amongst the findings, a fall in the purchasing of alcohol in Scotland was found such that it concluded MUP led to a 7.6% reduction in off-trade purchases in Scotland, equivalent to drop of 328 g (41 UK units) per adult per household per year. This may be seen as broadly in line with early MUP market research sales data released earlier this year by NHS Scotland showing a fall in consumption against a rise in England.

Prevention Green Paper: another missed opportunity?

The recent release of the Prevention Green Paper consultation for England has prompted has a series of criticisms over a lack of effective actions to address alcohol harms.

Whilst the Green Paper claims to set out a 'new approach to public health that involves a new personalised, prevention model', alcohol and heath groups have spoken out over the absence of any commitments that reflect Public Health England's (PHE) own evidence review.

Newly defined at-risk drinkers following the change to the UK low risk drinking guidelines: who and what to do?

In this guest blog, Philippa Case, a researcher at University College London, explores findings from a new study on ‘newly defined at-risk drinkers’ following a change to the UK’s low risk drinking guidelines.

Alcohol guidelines have existed in the UK since 1984 in various forms.  These guidelines exist to help people make informed choices about drinking alcohol by highlighting potential alcohol-related health risks. Guidelines also help health care practitioners assess and advise patients around their alcohol consumption as alcohol brief interventions have become a popular component of alcohol strategies in the UK and beyond.

One in five hospital patients harmful drinkers, new study finds

A new study highlighting the extent of alcohol problems amongst hospital patients has attracted media attention, indicating 1 in 5 are harmful drinkers and 1 in 10 are alcohol dependent.

The research used data from 124 studies covering 1.7 million patients in UK hospitals, indicating the level of harmful drinking amongst hospital patients is ten times higher than the general population, and eight times higher for alcohol dependence.

WHO alcohol country factsheets: UK policy falling short?

The World Health Organization (WHO) has released a series of alcohol country factsheets for Europe, including for the UK [pdf].

The resource provides a range of available data and policy rankings for each country compared with the EU average. The UK factsheet draws on a range of data sources, highlighting trends and figures shown in other reports such as the annual Statistics on Alcohol for England.

Whilst identifying the overall decline in UK consumption, the factsheet does not explicitly highlight the role of young people's drinking as driving force behind the change; adult's consumption has been stable or risen in older aged drinkers.

News & updates May 2019: Love Island new alcohol rules, binge drinking, 'boozy' sports fans, Bristol alcohol ban protest & more

Selected media stories since the April roundup:

A range of media reports covered Scotland's minimum unit pricing (MUP) one year after it came into force. The BBC asked if the new alcohol laws had changed drinking habits, whilst others including The Times implied the policy was not working owing to rises in consumption. Others however reflected nuances, including larger consumption rises in England coinciding with the hot summer and football world cup, and big hits on drink types such as white cider in Scotland. See APUK's analysis MUP one year on: speculation, spin & evidence?.

Britons 'get drunk' more often than 35 other nations, The Guardian and others reported, following Global Drug Survey 2019 findings. Britons get drunk an average of 51 times a years, compared to an average of 33 times across all respondents. Britons also topped the table for cocaine use, with Harry Sumnall, of Liverpool John Moores University, warning of the harms from the drug 'especially when mixed with alcohol'. See APUK analysis of the GDS findings here.