Feedback on Liverpool LINk Alcohol Report

Head of Integrated Commissioning for Addictions and Offender Health, Tom Knight, has given positive feedback on the Liverpool LINk Alcohol Report completed in 2009.

Members of Liverpool LINk investigated and reserached Liverpool’s alcohol services work and specifically how they aim to reduce the number of alcohol related hospital admissions in the city – currently the 2nd highest in England (2,612 hospital admissions for alcohol-related harm per 100,000 population in 2007/08 compared to 2,615 in Newcastle).

Alcohol was chosen as a top priority issue by LINk members last year and the group who produced the report made sure that the views of network members and the general public, including alcohol service users, were central to the report and helped to shape its recommendations. The LINk Alcohol Group invited LINk members to submit opinions, personal experience and suggestions and held public neighbourhood meetings across the city where local residents were invited to contribute.

The report’s authors also met with, and put questions to, senior officers within the health service including alcohol service commissioners and providers; academics; voluntary sector staff and others working to address the impact of alcohol use and misuse in Liverpool.

Some of the key messages of the LINk report are:

• Liverpool has got a lot to be proud of in its approach to alcohol services and treatment and has introduced innovations, such as alcohol-specialist nurses at the Royal, which are now being copied nationally
• Liverpool is very well placed to be leading the national debate on alcohol use and changing attitudes – as it did so successfully with smoking
• One area where Liverpool could really make a difference would be to lend it’s backing to moves to introduce minimum pricing for alcohol units and to relate unit price to unit strength 
• There is still some room for improvement in the way that people get referred for treatment between the range of different services – to ensure that support is continuous and people don’t fall though any gaps – but the PCT has recognised this and is already acting to change things for the better
• There is also still an opportunity for GPs to improve the way in which they pick up signs of patients alcohol problems at an early stage and make appropriate referrals to support agencies and specialist treatment – but again the PCT has acknowledged this and is taking steps to improve alcohol ‘screening’ by GPs.

The report has been well received by Liverpool PCT and NHS North West and LINk members have also been congratulated by Professor Ian Gilmore (President of the Royal College of Physicians and Chair of the Alcohol Health Alliance) who is Consultant Physician and Gastroenterologist at the Royal Liverpool University Hospitals and Honorary Professor at the Department of Medicine, University of Liverpool.

Tom Knight (Head of Integrated Commissioning, Addictions and Offender Health, Liverpool PCT) said the timing of the report “could not be better” and that it makes “a valuable contribution to what represents a significant challenge for the city of Liverpool and partners.” (see pdf document for full response)

A positive outcome of the LINk’s work is that LINk member Stanley Mayne, who Chaired the group which produced the report, has already been invited to join Liverpool’s Alcohol Strategy Group where he will be able to help local residents and service users to continue having their say on alcohol-related issues.

To read a copy of the full Alcohol report on - please click here