Selected media stories since the December roundup, not including the widely reported change in drinking guidelines:
The NHS faces a ticking timebomb of dementia, brain damage and liver disease due to the heavy drinking of the baby boomer generation, reported the Daily Mail
A study reported in the Daily Mail found that alcohol consumption can increase consumption of unhealthy food via its effects on inhibitory control, although not in highly restrained eaters.
|
|
An alcohol Identification and Brief Advice (IBA) toolkit to promote the commissioning of alcohol brief interventions has been released by the South London Health Innovation Network (HIN).
The free toolkit [pdf] aims to support commissioners and provides:
|
|
The alcohol IBA blog was set up to promote understanding and the delivery of IBA through news, links and ideas.
Recent posts from the IBA blog include:
|
|
A new briefing paper warns the current position on alcohol brief intervention could be at a 'turning point', and makes a number of recommendations to improve delivery.
Brief intervention - known as 'Identification and Brief Advice' (IBA) in England - has been a central component of national and local alcohol strategies across the UK in recent years. However despite its growing profile, IBA has proved difficult to implement effectively, with a number of key questions raised over whether 'success' will be achieved. Challenges include concerns over delivery in key Primary Care settings, whilst important questions around specific approaches and wider settings are yet to be fully answered.
Continue reading "Where next for alcohol brief interventions?" »
|
|
Recent bulletins from the 
drug and alcohol bank:
Politics and evidence on crucial UK public health policy [minimum pricing]
Eliminating cheap alcohol by setting a high minimum price per unit promises the greatest feasible health gains per alcohol policy £, but also risks the greatest political backlash. So much is at stake for opposing interests that evidence is disputed and the politics have swung under pressure from lobbyists and competing philosophies. This Effectiveness Bank hot topic delves in to the fire.
Click button to read more.
Prevention overview from EU’s drug misuse centre
|
|
Recent bulletins from the drug and alcohol bank:
Re-offending not reduced by court-ordered alcohol treatment in England
The first UK evaluation of court-ordered alcohol treatment to feature an adequate comparison group found no significant reductions in re-offending from alcohol treatment requirements imposed as part of a probation sentence. Why did such a major intervention not prove effective?
Small change to preventive messages could prompt heavy drinkers to seek help
|
|
An updated guidance document to support strategic and commissioning approaches to alcohol treatment and prevention has been released by Public Health England (PHE), alongside packs for drugs, tobacco and children and young people's substance use.
It aims to support the Joint Strategic Needs Assessment (JSNA) process and local joint health and wellbeing strategies. These underpin local delivery for drug and alcohol treatment and prevention, now the responsibility of local authorities.
Continue reading "'Alcohol and drugs JSNA support pack' 2015 released by PHE" »
|
|
Recent bulletins from the drug and alcohol bank:
Parental limit-setting was key to alcohol use prevention
How did a low-resource Dutch school-based parent and child intervention achieve its striking impact on adolescent drinking? Implications are that it is important first to prompt parents to set and communicate strict limits on their children’s drinking, setting the context for substance use education.
Brief advice prompts reduced drinking in GP and emergency patients
|
|
Recent bulletins from the drug and alcohol bank:
Alcohol taxes fall, deaths rise in Finland
Simulations predicting what might happen are the main indications in the UK of how alcohol price and tax changes will affect health, but from Finland we have evidence that how heavily alcohol is taxed really does affect alcohol-related deaths.
IBA and prevention Findings
Alcohol brief interventions seem bargain for England
Implications of this simulation study for England are that health planners would be irrational not to get GP practices to screen every adult patient for hazardous drinking the next time they visit; it would slash future health spending while improving health – but how solidly founded are the assumptions built in to the calculations?
Learning by example transforms doctors’ recognition of problem drinking
|
|
Recent bulletins from the drug and alcohol bank:
Few new initiatives prompted by alcohol industry ‘pledges’
At the heart of the UK government’s alcohol strategy are the ‘Responsibility Deal’ pledges made by alcohol companies, but government-funded evaluators say actions committed to were usually already done or underway
Alcohol industry ‘pledges’ ineffective ... and perhaps worse
A second article from the same research unit says even if fully implemented, the pledges were unlikely to significantly affect consumption or health. Other sources suggest one effect has been to forestall a more effective measure – a minimum unit price for alcohol.
Harm reduction lessons curb drinking and harm where most needed
|
|
Its editor is Dr James Morris. Got a question? Email us.
For alcohol help see here or call 0300 123 1110
Recent Comments