Agenda item

The Board noted that Alice Wiseman provided a paper on Alcohol Related Harm at its last meeting and that it also received presentations from Professor Eileen Kaner of Newcastle University on the impact on Minimum Unit Pricing (MUP) in Scotland and from Sue Taylor, Balance.  The evidence was that there had been some decline in alcohol consumption as a result of MUP.

It was noted that alcohol-related hospital admissions can be due to regular alcohol use that is above low risk levels and are most likely to involve increasing risk drinkers, higher risk drinkers, dependent drinkers and binge drinkers.

In terms of admissions for alcohol-specific conditions, numbers locally are 972 per 100,000 of the population, the England figure is 644.

It is felt that there is also a degree of unmet need within the population and if all those who needed support were to present to services that it would be difficult to meet their needs.

Treatment for adults is successful and is on par with the national figure. 

There is support available, work is targeted at schools, and a number of campaigns raise the awareness of the health harms.

With regards to young people, we have a specialised young person service and a separate Adult Substance Misuse Service.  There are different interventions depending on the level of needs.

There are some opportunities with some supplementary funding which is available to build capacity in the workforce and get more people into treatment.  Currently though there is no residential detox provision in the North East.

Regional Work is being undertaken as part of the recommendations from the Regional Alcohol Needs Assessment.  SSMTR funding is available and there is a need to look at inpatient funding.  We need to look at partnership working to better meet the needs of vulnerable dependent drinkers.  Work also needs to be undertaken to embed an ‘alcohol free childhood’. 

There is a recovery community who are working to take away the stigma and give a message of hope.  It was noted that for every person who has an issue, at least 3 more people are affected. 

There are some challenges to be faced, including the prevalence of alcohol within peoples lives, the visibility of alcohol is across the board.  We have a licensing system which is difficult to challenge and influence from a public health point of view.  There is an issue around the visibility of alcohol to children, for example a Temporary Event Notice may be for a community event in a park but there could be alcohol available.  We have an opportunity on Council land to have family focussed events.  There is also the whole issue of normalisation of alcohol within our society, we need to think about how we can change the mindset. It has taken a long time to do so with tobacco and it will also take a long time to do something similar with alcohol.  The data is challenging and it is difficult to make in-roads where there are entrenched views.

It was noted that the LGA were doing quite a lot of work with regards to including Public Health as a Licensing Objective.

It was noted that with regards to the challenges, there are a number of adverts for supermarkets on television and that many adverts are focussed on alcohol.  It is a highly well financed industry with a huge turnover.  We need to have the same sort of approach as with tobacco.  How do you address the challenge of such a well financed industry and what support is there for carers/partners of those who have alcohol issues.  It was noted that we do have a carers service in Gateshead and there are National Networks; however, it is difficult to secure engagement.  Each year we do a survey and half of the people in the North East are drinking higher than the recommended limits.  It was noted that the Alcohol Free aspect of the World Cup has been very positive.  Good practice has been highlighted in Scotland and the Republic of Ireland are undertaking similar measures.

It was noted that in the 1980s, bars used to shut earlier but licensing laws were changed to give more of a European feel.  It was also noted that it is really important that where community events take place on Council land that we look at the licensing position. 

It was queried in relation to people who are having a difficult time, how do we help them avoid turning to alcohol.  It was noted that a high number of the people who die  from alcohol harm are often on their own at home and are amongst the most isolated in society.

RESOLVED:

(i)               That the Board continues to lobby government on this issue.

(ii)              That Board members consider the issue of alcohol promotion across their organisations.