Reduction of Harm From Alcohol

The Vision

Alcohol harm reduction is a priority for the Cheshire & Merseyside Health Care Partnership, each Health and Wellbeing Board in Cheshire & Merseyside and the NHS Long Term Plan. Through collaborative work with partners across the whole system the programme will deliver targeted prevention initiatives to help improve lives and ultimately achieve a reduction in alcohol-specific admissions to hospital.

Why is it important?

  • Among those aged 15 to 49 in England, alcohol is now the leading risk factor for ill-health, early mortality and disability and the fifth leading risk factor for ill health across all age groups
  • In Cheshire and Merseyside over a quarter (26.5%) of the adult population consume alcohol at levels above the UK Chief Medical Officers guidelines, increasing their risk of alcohol-related ill health
  • Alcohol misuse across Cheshire and Merseyside costs around £994 million each year (£412 per head of population), across the NHS, social services, crime and licensing and the workplace

What are we doing?

Work is underway in 5 areas: 

  1. Implementation of the national pathway for alcohol care and the standards for Alcohol Care Teams (ACTs) across Cheshire and Merseyside, to reduce unwarranted variation and drive up standards in alcohol care
  2. Establishment of a common Acute Alcohol Competency Programme to improve workforce alcohol-prevention capabilities, within Alcohol Care Teams and beyond
  3. Creation of a Cheshire & Merseyside alcohol harm-reduction dashboard to identify variation in key metrics across the area and enable the targeting of activities to reduce unwarranted variation 
  4. Strengthening alcohol IBA (Identification and Brief Advice) activities to promote early detection of harmful drinking levels and Alcohol Related Liver Disease, enabling early treatment and prevention of cirrhosis
  5. Building on recent NIHR-funded modelling research to advocate for the introduction of alcohol minimum unit pricing (MUP) across Cheshire and Merseyside.

Leadership

Working Groups

The work is led by the C&M Alcohol Prevention Board which has representation from local authorities, health and wider system partners. The Group meets every quarter.

DPH Lead

The Director of Public Health lead for the ‘Reduction of Harm From Alcohol’ programme is Margaret Jones.

More information

Contact

Ravi Menghani is the Champs Support Team Lead for the ‘Reduction of Harm From Alcohol’ programme.  ravimenghani@wirral.gov.uk 

 

Useful Resources

PROACT Competencies Framework PROgram for Alcohol Care Teams – published October 2021.