The Health Innovation Network's Alcohol Programme presented at our Primary Care speed dating session. Their slides look at their work in Identification and Brief Advice, and their work to tackle Alcohol Frequent Attenders in South London.

1. Health Innovation Network
Alcohol Theme
Professor Colin Drummond
Ms Amy Wolstenholme
Mr Rod Watson
Mr Matthew Andrews

2. Why it’s important
Alcohol is one of the three biggest lifestyle risk factors for disease and
death in the UK, and alcohol related harm is now estimated to cost
society £21 billion annually.
The Government has estimated that in a population of 100,000 people
each year:
• 1,000 people with be a victim of an alcohol related violent crime
• 2,000 people will be admitted to hospital with an alcohol related condition
• Over 13,000 people will binge-drink
• Over 21,500 people will be regularly drinking above the lower-risk levels
The case for action in south London is clear. Six of the 12 south London
Health and Wellbeing boards have prioritised alcohol harm reduction,
and most others have priorities that are affected by alcohol.
Alcohol theme

3. Evidence base for IBA
• The evidence base is substantial: over 50 peer-reviewed, published
papers and systematic-reviews spanning 30 years.
• Endorsed by the World Health Organisation, Public Health England
and the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence
• For every eight people who receive simple alcohol advice, one will
reduce their drinking to within low-risk levels.
Alcohol theme – Identification and Brief Advice

4. Planned activities
• We are working closely with the south London CLAHRC
(Collaboration for Leadership in Applied Health Research and Care)
to develop and evaluate an alcohol IBA mobile phone app which will
use new technologies to maximise reach in the population.
• We are also working with the CLAHRC to establish a baseline, using
a population-based survey, which will be used to assess the
penetration of IBA into the south London population.
• We will develop tools and guidance to support training and mass
campaigns on IBA in different settings
Alcohol theme – Identification and Brief Advice

5. Background for the Alcohol Frequent Attenders project
• In South London 15-20% of all acute admissions to hospital are
alcohol related (Kouimtsidis et al., 2003; Canning et al., 1999). This is
particularly concentrated in acute medical admissions units.
• A recent audit in King’s College Hospital found 31% of patients
admitted to the Medical Assessment Unit had an alcohol use disorder
(Bell et al., 2011).
• In emergency departments 40% of attendances are alcohol related,
rising to 70% at weekends (Drummond et al., 2005a).
• London has the second highest prevalence rate of alcohol
dependence amongst regions in England (Drummond et al., 2005b).
Alcohol theme – Frequent Attenders

6. Planned activities
• We will use Hospital Episode Statistics to better profile Alcohol
Frequent Attenders, better understand patterns of attendance and
diagnoses, and to provide baseline data
• We will establish a network of clinicians, commissioners, service
users and other experts to advise on best practice and to lead on
shaping effective commissioning models
• We will work closely with the South London CLAHRC (Collaboration
for Leadership in Applied Health Research and Care) to develop and
evaluate an assertive outreach service – to better evidence the
patient outcome and economic value of pathways for AFAs
Alcohol theme – Frequent Attenders

7. 1. How can Primary Care practitioners be supported to deliver IBA?
2. How can Primary Care practitioners optimise opportunities to deliver
IBA?
3. How could the identification and appropriate referral of alcohol
frequent hospital attenders be improved from the Primary Health
Care perspective?
4. Are there any support mechanisms or referral pathways that could
be enhanced to improve the outcomes for alcohol frequent hospital
attenders?
Questions and Comments