Index of information on this page:
People who misuse alcohol
More details about these headline statistics
are available in:
- the NHS North of Tyne Strategic Health Needs
Assessment 2009/10;
- the recently completed Needs Assessment for
Alcohol Treatment and Prevention Services in Northumberland;
- Northumberland Drug and Alcohol Action Team’s
Young People’s Needs Assessment November 2009.
- Northumberland Drug and Alcohol Action Team’s
Adult Drug Treatment Plan 2009/10.
Context:
Alcohol misuse is an increasing problem for
Northumberland; it impacts not only on the health and well-being of
the individual drinker but also on families, society through crime
and disorder, accidents and injury, sexual and other risk taking
behaviours and escalating costs to Health and Social care.
Excessive and inappropriate drinking leads to
crime and social disorder - particularly youth disorder - with
increased demand on Police and other support services.
Hazardous and harmful drinking in the home is widespread and
damaging to the health and wellbeing of individuals and families
and needs to be better understood.
Alcohol misuse has been highlighted as a
priority for development, action and funding within the NHS North
of Tyne Strategic Plan; it has also been selected as a key health
outcome within the World Class Commissioning assurance process.
The Drug and Alcohol Action Team (DAAT) has a
clear responsibility to plan, commission and monitor interventions
to combat these issues in Northumberland.
Tackling substance misuse is a key cross
cutting theme within the refreshed Children and Young People’s Plan
(Insert link to December 2009 FACT Board).
Key Messages:
- Problems caused by alcohol use in
Northumberland impact on a wide range of agencies and
activities.
- The health problems associated with alcohol
have been steadily increasing with rises in hospital admissions for
both alcohol-related and alcohol-attributable conditions.
- Unless interventions are put in place to
reduce alcohol related harm, hospital admission are likely to
continue rising.
- These rises are seen across Northumberland
with a particularly high rate in the South Eastern part of the
county.
- This has not just affected adults as the
number of children admitted to hospital for alcohol related
conditions has also increased.
- The number of people receiving treatment by
alcohol services appears to have remained constant over the last
few years. This may well be an indication that the services
currently provided are running to capacity.
- Crime related to alcohol has remained
constant, however this has to be viewed in the context of falling
overall crime rates, which means that, as a proportion of recorded
crime, alcohol-related crime is increasing.
- The number of motorists being tested for
drink driving has declined along with the relative rate of positive
tests.
- Alcohol misuse is the single most significant
factor in young people’s substance misuse in
Northumberland.
- Northumberland needs to meet the
accommodation needs of young people who misuse substances
- Resources need to be established to support
young people’s and parent/carer’s engagement with designing
services
- Need to find a better way of supporting
parent/carers of young people who have problems with their
substance misuse
What we know
National
- The Alcohol Needs Analysis Research Project
(ANARP)[1] undertaken in 2005 found that:
- 38% of men and 16% of women (aged 16–64) have
an alcohol use disorder;
- 32% of men and 15% of women are hazardous or
harmful alcohol users of alcohol;
- 21% of men and 9% of women were identified as
binge drinkers; and
- 6% of men and 2% of women have alcohol
dependence.
- Data from the Health Survey for England for
2003-2005 shows that across England binge drinking prevalence in
adults (aged 16 years and over) was 18.0%.
- There is a rising trend in hospital
admissions for alcohol related harm in England.
- In November 2008, there were around 42,000
(130.6 per 100,000) Incapacity Benefit/Severe Disablement Allowance
claimants whose main medical reason for being unable to work was
alcoholism.
Regional
- In the absence of robust local data,
synthetic estimates based on the Health Survey for England are used
to compare binge drinking prevalence in adults (aged 16 years and
over) in local authorities. These show that for 2003-2005
estimated binge drinking prevalence for the North East was
26.5%.
- There is a rising trend in hospital
admissions for alcohol related harm in the North East.
- In November 2008, there were around 2,800
(175.8 per 100,000) Incapacity Benefit/Severe Disablement Allowance
claimants whose main medical reason for being unable to work was
alcoholism.
Local
- Applying the prevalence estimates from the
Alcohol Needs Analysis Research Project (ANARP) to the local
population we estimate that there are:
- 53,300 persons with an alcohol use
disorder;
- 46,400 hazardous or harmful alcohol users of
alcohol; and
- 7,900 persons with alcohol
dependence.
- In the absence of robust local data,
synthetic estimates based on the Health Survey for England are used
to compare binge drinking prevalence in adults (aged 16 years and
over) in local authorities. These show that for 2003-2005
estimated binge drinking prevalence for Northumberland was 25.5% -
with the former districts of Northumberland ranging from 24.5% in
Alnwick and Berwick upon Tweed to 26.4% in Wansbeck. Further
information is available from: http://neighbourhood.statistics.gov.uk/dissemination/
- Northumberland has a relatively high
estimated prevalence of binge drinking when compared to similar
PCTs (using the Prospering Smaller Towns Group of the
ONS Area Classification).
- There is a rising trend in hospital
admissions for alcohol related harm in the Northumberland; the rate
of increase is faster than all other similar PCTs.
- Deaths from chronic liver disease, including
cirrhosis, are not significantly different to the England average
and compare well with similar PCTs.
- In November 2008, there were around 190
(100.1 per 100,000) Incapacity Benefit/Severe Disablement Allowance
claimants whose main medical reason for being unable to work was
alcoholism.
- 52% of the population in treatment for drug
misuse use alcohol as their main drug. 80% use alcohol as a first,
second or third drug.
- The national treatment agency is positive
about how Northumberland is meeting the needs of young people who
misuse substances.
- We know there is a shortfall in meeting the
accommodation needs of young people who leave custody and require
support to address their substance misuse difficulties.
Funding has been secured in 2009 to partially address this
issue.
- Commencement and ongoing review of the
in-county pharmacological service for young people is a key
priority, to include further development of Harm reduction and
Transitional arrangements
What people have told us
– consultation and feedback
Local engagement work
Social marketing
Surveys
The key messages have come out of the Young
Peoples Needs Assessment 2009
TellUs
survey results. The reported frequency of alcohol and
substance use by young people is relatively high in Northumberland
compared to the national average, and local area data needs to be
analysed to determine if more targeted interventions are
required.
Policy and Research
National
Safe. Sensible. Social. The Government’s Alcohol Strategy
In June 2007, the Department of Health and the
Home Office jointly launched an updated government alcohol
strategy, setting out clear goals and actions to promote sensible
drinking and reduce the harm that alcohol can cause. The
strategy sets out to: minimise the health harms, violence and
antisocial behaviour associated with alcohol, while ensuring that
people are able to enjoy alcohol safely and responsibly.
Alcohol Improvement Programme
The Alcohol Improvement Programme was
established in April 2008 by the Department of Health to help
reduce Alcohol-related Hospital Admissions across the NHS.
Regional
The North East's first ever health and wellbeing
strategy was launched in February 2008. This ambitious plan
aims to transform the region into the healthiest in England within
a generation. Alcohol is one of the key themes of this
strategy.
Balance – Getting the Measure of Alcohol
Balance is the North East of England’s Alcohol
Office, the first of its kind in the UK. It seeks to inspire
changes in the way we think about and drink alcohol in order to
encourage people to enjoy a good time but reduce their consumption
with the aim to have happier, healthier people living in safer
communities across the North East.
Local
The ambitious five year plan aims to improve well-being and
health for almost 800,000 people living across Newcastle, North
Tyneside and
Northumberland. The Plan has been developed within the
context of health needs assessment which shows that many of the
major health conditions for the population are linked to lifestyle
choices. There is a clear link to the indicators that we have
selected as World Class Commissioning (WCC) outcomes - including
the measure of alcohol related hospital admissions.
Annual operational plan
The North of Tyne annual operational plan sets out the
developments we are planning over the next year to improve health
and well-being and health services across Newcastle, North Tyneside
and Northumberland. The plan has been drafted in line with
national and local priorities and reflects discussions we have had
over the past year with key partners including members of the
public.
The current Sustainable Community Strategy for
Northumberland was adopted by the partnership in September 2007 and
covers the period to 2021. It outlines an aspirational
long-term vision for the communities of Northumberland and defines
a series of shared priority outcomes that form the basis for
delivering a fundamental step change to the quality of life in
Northumberland. “Lead healthier lifestyles” is one of the key
themes of the strategy. The Strategy will be updated during
2010/11.
Local Area Agreement
Northumberland’s
Local Area Agreement 2008-2011, and refreshed targets
as at March 2010 include a targets for slowing the rise in
alcohol related hospital admissions.
A strategy to improve health and well-being in
Northumberland, published in 2007, includes tackling obesity as a
priority.
Northumberland Alcohol Strategy
A comprehensive Alcohol Needs Assessment has
been completed and the findings from this will underpin the refresh
of the county wide strategy by Autumn 2010. This will set out
action plans focused on the following targeted groups:
- Hazardous drinkers;
- Harmful drinkers;
- Children & young people; and
- Offenders.
Northumberland Children & Young People’s Plan
The Children’s
and Young People’s Plan 2008-11 is due for refresh Spring 2010,
this will incorporate the commissioning strategy. The plan
includes action to promote healthy drinking behaviours and to
provide support and treatment for those misusing alcohol.
We are currently updating our Service Plans
for 2010-11, they will also inform future priorities. This
section will be available by the end of May 2010. Service
Plans for 2009-10 are available to view.
Our priorities for the
future
- The PCT has applied for £185k through the
Annual Operational Plan process to improve and expand community
alcohol services;
- Redirection of existing funding is being
considered to allow the development of a local enhanced service for
screening and brief advice (IBA) in primary care across
Northumberland.
- £83k has been made available as part of the
North of Tyne commitment into the Regional Alcohol Office -
calculated at 27p per head of population >16 yrs.
- The delivery of alcohol services in North
Northumberland is particularly challenging and discussions are
underway around the development of peripatetic provision.
- Ensure that young people who misuse drugs or
alcohol have prompt access to support and treatment.
- This area has been protected in the
Children’s services budget given the increase in need.
- 90% of schools are now accredited with
achieving the Healthy Schools standard which includes preventative
education around substance misuse issues.
- We want to further embed the Targeted Youth
Support model with the work of the FACT teams so there is a
stronger link between identifying vulnerable young people who may
not be involved with social workers, but are at risk due to their
substance misuse behaviour.
- Recommissioning the focus of the Children’s
Fund to Hidden Harm as it was identified that the most high needs
cases within a safeguarding context often had their origins in
parental substance misuse (as well as domestic violence and adult
mental health problems.
- Good education through schools is taking
place through the Drug Education consultant delivering sessions
upon request from schools with a main focus on the effects of
alcohol.
- This has highlighted the link between alcohol
use and young people becoming involved in risk taking behaviours;
schools are therefore linking their drug education to other areas
of the curriculum, particularly Sex and Relationships Education
(SRE).
