Urgent action is needed to tackle the ‘escalating crisis’ of alcohol harm, says an open letter from 40 members of the Alcohol Health Alliance (AHA), which includes royal colleges, treatment providers and other health experts.
The document praises the ‘progressive’ commitments to addressing tobacco and unhealthy food set out in the recent King’s Speech, but says that ‘bold action’ to tackle alcohol harm is vital if the new government is to ‘shorten NHS waiting times, prevent crime, reduce inequalities and grow the economy’.
The letter points out that 2020 saw more than 10,000 people die from alcohol-related causes, a third up on the total for 2019, with alcohol now the leading risk factor for death and ill health among 15-49-year-olds in the UK. It’s also estimated that almost 100,000 people are unable to work as a result of alcohol-related poor health.
Alcohol-related harms are ‘not felt equally’, the letter adds, with people in the lowest-income groups significantly more likely to be adversely impacted. The north east and north west of England have long had the highest alcohol-related death rates, while the south has the lowest.
‘The growing burden of alcohol harm threatens not just our health, but also our public services and economic prosperity’ the document states. ‘Alcohol-related illnesses account for one million hospital admissions annually, overwhelming our NHS and frontline services. Added to this, alcohol causes more working years of life lost than the ten most common cancers combined, stifling productivity and economic potential.’
The last UK alcohol strategy was published more than a decade ago, it adds, with parliamentary scrutiny channels ‘repeatedly’ emphasising the issue in recent years. The Public Accounts Committee’s inquiry into alcohol treatment services concluded last year that, ‘We are concerned the department is not taking alcohol harm sufficiently seriously. It is unacceptable that deaths from alcohol rose by 89 per cent in the last two decades… However, despite the increase in harm there has been no alcohol-focused strategy since 2012 and the latest plans to publish one were abandoned in 2020.’
Meanwhile, a new report from Adfam sets out the vital part that family members can play in helping loved ones with substance issues to achieve and maintain recovery. Very little national or local funding is earmarked to provide family support says Above and beyond: the key role families play in recovery. This is despite three quarters of respondents to a survey for the report crediting family members for their ‘significant role’ in their recovery. Only a quarter of respondents said their family had received any specialist help.
‘The results from this survey give a compelling picture of both the life-changing and life-saving support provided by families, but also the sparsity of support that is available to help families,’ the report says. ‘We believe it points to the need to fundamentally rethink the allocation of resources so that the people most intimately involved in promoting and supporting recovery are themselves supported.’
AHA letter available here
Adfam report available here