City’s shameful binge drinking record laid bare

Sep 25 2007 by David Higgerson, Liverpool Daily Post

LIVERPOOL’S culture of excessive drinking was laid bare last night, as health bosses expressed fears the city’s binge-drinking battle plan is not being properly financed.

More than one in four people in Liverpool and Knowsley are binge- drinkers, a report to the North West Strategic Health Authority reveals.

The SHA has asked nine primary care trusts – including Liverpool – to explain how they intend to tackle the high levels of alcohol abuse.

Liverpool and Knowsley have the highest rates of binge-drinking in the North West, while Liverpool is named as one of the worst-hit places in the UK for excessive drinking. Yet Liverpool PCT has admitted it does not have a dedicated budget set aside for an alcohol reduction plan.

A “Smokefree Liverpool”-style campaign aimed at alcohol abuse is now being prepared.

PCTs with high levels of alcohol abuse are in line for extra funding to tackle the problem, with regular binge-drinkers, including those who enjoy heavy drinking week-ends, encouraged to attend “brief” counselling sessions to understand how they are harming themselves.

Liverpool PCT also plans to support employers and trade unions to tackle binge-drinking.

The SHA plans to lobby govern-ment for a change in the law to allow councils to reject extra bar, pub and restaurant licences on the grounds too much alcohol is already damaging people’s health.

According to the report:

Liverpool and Knowsley have the highest levels of binge-drinking in the region, with 27.8% and 25% of the population confirmed binge-drinkers;

Liverpool has the highest rate of hospital admissions for alcoholic-specific conditions in the North West, with almost eight admissions per 1,000 directly related to alcohol, almost double the region’s average;

Another 15 in every 1,000 hospital admissions had some link with alcohol, such as alcohol-related attacks – 50% higher than the North West average;

Liverpool has one of the highest levels of alcohol-linked crimes in the region, over 8,500 in 2004/5, the second worst in the North West;

Only Blackpool had more violent alcohol-related crimes reported to police than Liverpool, which had just under 6,000;

The city has one of the highest drink-driving convictions, almost 10% of the North West total.

Liverpool PCT said it did not have one particular budget for alcohol issues, but that projects were funded from several sources, adding it had new projects starting next month to address the problem.

But Kate Ardern, a director at North West SHA, said: “It is a concern some PCTs do not have a dedicated budget for their alcohol action plans. We are trying to determine what money should be allocated for PCTs and problems associated with alcohol will be a priority. Liverpool does do badly in many of the indicators, so it will probably get more money.”

The SHA also hopes to replicate the success of the SmokeFree lobbying campaign, which began in Liverpool, to win a change in licensing laws so councillors could refuse licences on grounds excessive boozing was already damaging public health locally.

Dr Ardern added: “We will be consulting with our partners with the aim of lobbying government, in the same way we did with SmokeFree to such great effect.

“Alcohol abuse has a serious impact on many lives, and we think councils should be able to refuse new licences on grounds of the health and social impact alcohol is having in an area. We also expect PCTs to introduce more brief interventions for those who are binge-drinking, but who aren’t damaging their health yet. Brief interventions, such as counselling, is one option.”

Professor Mark Bellis, director of the Centre for Public Health, North West Public Health Obser-vatory (NWPHO) at Liverpool John Moores University, prod-uced a report which said alcohol abuse was wiping out the benefits to public health achieved through a reduction in smoking.

He said: “Alcohol is destroying the health gains we have made by reducing smoking.

“More people are developing alcohol-related diseases and there are around 3,260 deaths relating to alcohol every year in England with more in the North West than in any other region. That is the real price we are paying for cheap alcohol and a culture where drinking to excess is not only tolerated but often encouraged.”

A spokesman for Liverpool PCT said: “Liverpool has been com-mended by the Home Office and Department of Health for the work that is being carried out to reduce alcohol-related harm.

“The SHA study asked whether a specific budget was used by the PCT to support the alcohol strat-egy. It required a yes or no ans-wer and did not give an opportun-ity to detail investment commit-ted across a number of work-streams.

In order to maximise investment in the alcohol agenda in Liverpool, a range of funding sources have been used.

OPINION: PAGE 12

davidhiggerson