Alcohol Policy UK

News & updates September 2017: Gin trends, stealth drinking, millennials, draft wine, pubs

Selected news and media stories since the August roundup:

A survey by Evenbrite says millennials consume 'just five units' of alcohol each week, reported Mailonline. Some 90 per cent see getting drunk as 'uncool' and a quarter believe it is 'pathetic' and 'embarrassing' when someone has had too much.

Hospital admissions linked to liver damage have doubled in a decade, according to new figures which also show that people from Blackpool are nearly eight times as likely to die from liver disease as those from Norfolk, reported the Telegraph.

Armed forces deploy brief interventions: will it work?

The Ministry of Defence (MoD) have released figures on an initiative to deliver alcohol brief interventions across the armed forces via dental check ups, identifying 61% of military personnel drinking at a risky or harmful levels.

The MoD has previously come under fire over a lack of action to address high levels of alcohol misuse amongst the armed forces. In 2015 Professor Neil Greenberg, lead on military health at the Royal College of Psychiatrists and a former Navy Commander, said an approach based education alone was not effective. Subsequently an MoD alcohol working group was instigated to "review policy and data to identify what more we can do to tackle alcohol misuse in the armed forces".

Alcohol deaths in Scotland: an unexpected rise?

A ten per cent rise in alcohol-related deaths in Scotland has triggered further calls for strong action to tackle alcohol harms as the Government awaits the Supreme Court's verdict on Minimum Unit Pricing (MUP).

In 2016 there were 1,265 alcohol-related deaths in Scotland, an increase of 115 (10%) compared with 2015. The definition of deaths used does not include fatal accidents involving alcohol and excludes some partially attributable causes such as certain cancers, but reflects alcohol-related deaths such as alcohol-related liver disease or poisoning.

News & updates June 2017: Welsh MUP, white wine, gin lollies, diabetes and hayfever

Selected news and media stories since the May roundup: 

BBC News reported that plans to introduce a new law setting a minimum price for alcohol in Wales could be revived by the Welsh Government, depending on the result of a Supreme Court challenge against similar plans by the Scottish Government.  Meanwhile, the number of alcohol-related deaths in Wales has stabilised following a significant rise towards the end of the last decade, reported WalesOnline.

Latest UK consumption data: MESAS 2017

The latest data on UK alcohol sales has been released by NHS Scotland, showing consumption has not increased over the past year. This follows small increases in consumption in 2014 and 2015 which had ended a downward overall trend from around 2005.

The report states:

After increasing over the 1990s and early 2000s, the volume of pure alcohol sold per adult in Scotland stabilised between 2005 and 2009, and then declined until 2013. This was followed by a two-year increase which has not continued in 2016, with per-adult sales returning to a similar level as in 2013.

News & updates May 2017: Lifeline charity future, mental health, glassing, breast cancer, alcohol on the radio & more

Selected media stories since the April roundup: 

Many newspapers reported on the latest ONS report on alcohol statistics for England (details in a previous post), with the Guardian highlighting teetotal young people, the Sun Blackpool and baby boomers, and the Daily Mail the 22% increase in alcohol-related hospital admissions over the past decade. APUK analysis here.

Findings bulletins - alcohol treatment: under 18s and adult figures, alcohol matrix on prisons, incentives, therapies & more

Recent bulletins from the Findings drug and alcohol bank:  

Alcohol fading from under-18s treatment in England

The diminishing youth treatment caseload in England is increasingly dominated by under-18s primarily being treated for cannabis use problems as the numbers of primary problem drinkers falls away to just 15% of the caseload.

Drug and alcohol treatment in England: numbers and trends

Alcohol Research UK studies: drinking cultures, A&E, hospital and local projects & more

Findings from a range of alcohol-related projects funded by Alcohol Research UK are available to access below. 

• A new approach to measuring drinking cultures in Britain
• The 3rd National Emergency Department survey of Alcohol Identification and Intervention activity
• Frequent attenders to accident and emergency departments: a qualitative study of individuals who repeatedly present with alcohol-related health conditions
• An exploration of the role of alcohol in the life experiences of the homeless population in Merseyside, UK
• The Time of My Life Project: A Realist Evaluation

Statistics on Alcohol England 2017 & latest OPN drinking figures

The annual Statistics on Alcohol for England 2017 has been released, detailing national data for key alcohol-related indicators and health harms.

Mainly bringing together recent alcohol data releases, the overall trend remains one of falls in drinking amongst younger people, whilst many measures of harm including the latest alcohol-related hospital admissions continue to rise, largely driven by heavier drinking mid and older age adults. See here for Guardian and BBC reports.

Key headlines from the release include:

Alcohol dependence: insights into prevalence, children & intention to change

New research has been released assessing the prevalence of alcohol dependence in England, including the first estimates of dependence by local area. The analysis also explores the number of children likely to be living with dependent adults and the proportion of dependent drinkers wishing to reduce their alcohol use.

The key findings indicate:

• There are 595,131 adults with alcohol dependence in England, which represents 1.393% of the 18+ population
• The majority of these (313,753) are displaying mild dependence, followed by those with moderate severity (173,399) and severe dependence (107,979)
• 120,419 alcohol dependent adults are estimated to have children living with them in the household, with a total of 207,617 children thought to live with an adult with dependence
• 57% of alcohol dependent adults are estimated to have a desire to cut down their drinking, including 41% who intend to do so in the near future