This year’s Alcohol Awareness Week runs from 17th to 23rd November. The theme for this year is ‘Facing our alcohol problem: Taking back our health and high streets.’

Local authorities and other organisations, from pharmacies to treatment service providers, get involved to raise awareness of alcohol issues and the impact it can have on our health and communities. Look out for local activities in your area.

During Alcohol Awareness Week, Alcohol Concern will also hold its annual conference. Delegates will get the chance to hear from a range of leading experts who will talk about a broad range of topics. If you would like more information about the conference, or to book tickets, you can do so here.

Harmful effects of alcohol

Alcohol is a major cause of ill health; it causes and contributes to a wide range of serious health problems, accidents and deaths.

• There were 8,367 alcohol related deaths in the UK in 2012.1

• Alcohol accounts for 80% of deaths from liver disease.2

• Alcohol is the second biggest risk factor for cancer after smoking.3

Alcohol causes and contributes to numerous health problems including liver and kidney disease; cancers of the mouth and throat, liver, laryngeal, colon and breast cancer; acute and chronic pancreatitis; heart disease; high blood pressure; depression; stroke and foetal alcohol syndrome.3

In most cases, the relationship between alcohol and disease is 'dose-dependent' - that is the more alcohol consumed, the greater the risk of disease.4 The table below shows the increased risk of various diseases when drinking three or six units of alcohol per day compared to no alcohol consumption:5

Reducing the harm and cost of alcohol

In 2013 local authorities assumed responsibility for the commissioning of public health services, including alcohol misuse treatment and prevention services. The Public Health Outcomes Framework sets out the desired outcomes for public health and how these are measured. The Framework includes a number of indicators relating to alcohol:

• Alcohol-related admissions to hospital
• Mortality from liver disease
• Successful completion of drug treatment
• People entering prison with substance dependence issues who are previously not known to community treatment
• Take up of the NHS Health Check programme by those eligible (which included screening for alcohol misuse for the first time from 2013).

The Framework also contains further indicators that are indirectly related to alcohol misuse, such as outcomes measures on obesity (excess weight in adults), mortality from cancer, recorded diabetes and domestic violence.

Tackling alcohol harm

To tackle alcohol harm effectively, it is important to address:

• The fact that costs to the NHS are largely not due to young binge drinkers but the cumulative effect of harmful and hazardous drinking - that is drinking regularly over a period time at levels that they may think are okay, but are considerably above the levels recommended by doctors.
• The urgent need for early identification and advice for people with drinking problems.
• The need for treatment centres and services to support and people with alcohol problems.
• The importance of shedding the stigma associated with alcohol misuse and recognise that alcohol must be part of every discussion about health and well-being.

It's also helpful to note that tackling alcohol misuse can save money at a local level:

• Screening and brief advice have been shown to save £58,000 per 1,000 people screened in doctors surgeries.1
• Specialist alcohol treatment can deliver savings of nearly £1,138 per dependent drinker treated and reduce hospital admissions.1
• For every £1 invested in specialist alcohol treatment services, £5 is saved on health, welfare and crime costs.1
• Both NICE and the Department of Health have recommended a target of 15% for drinkers to have treatment locally. Fully implementing this guideline in England would save £9.3 million per year.2

To find out more about alcohol treatment and prevention services, you may wish to visit our training and consultancy pages or visit the links below:

• NICE public health guidance: Alcohol use-disorders: preventing harmful drinking
• NICE Quality Standard on Alcohol dependence and harmful alcohol use

1Alcohol Concern, Making alcohol a health priority - Opportunities to reduce alcohol harms and rising costs, 2011
2NICE, Alcohol use disorders: alcohol dependence. Costing report. Implementing NICE guidance, February 2011