Agenda item

The Deputy Director of Public Health, in her capacity as the Chair of the Alcohol Strategy Group, a sub group of the Oxfordshire Community Safety Partnership, presented the briefing report (JHO11) pointing out that the Director of Public Health for Oxfordshire had highlighted concerns about alcohol consumption in his Annual Report for several years now, adding also that this issue involved not only policy, but also an individual’s behaviour, choice and responsibility. She introduced a panel of commissioners and managers representing different stages of involvement ie. in prevention, screening and advice for harmful drinkers, referral for treatment, treatment for addiction and finally recovery and post recovery network:

Rob Whyte – Consultant Nurse (Community Service Practitioner) – Oxford University Hospitals NHS Trust Accident & Emergency Department. His role is to undertake screening work, team liaison and has direct contact with Accident & Emergency attendees;

Mandeep Novak – Oxford Health Harm Minimisation Services – Works with clients on two different levels – on prevention and assessment of patients’ vulnerability and home environment;

Dr Alistair Reid – Consultant Psychiatrist in Addictions, Oxford. Focused on harm reduction treatments using psycho – social interventions;

Dee Dee Wallace – Lifetime Recovery Service – Referral to this service following a decision to stop consumption. Involves liaison with psycho-social Team to ensure client suitability. Risk assessments are taken at home. Clients then attend a series of detox programme for 7 – 10 days.

Jodie McMinn – SMART – Howard House - Secure residential care for clients with a serious level of addiction undertaking detox. Maximum 12 week programme for up to 10 residents. Intervention psycho-social work carried out and clinical and medical screening.

Anna Penn – Young Addiction Service – Employed by the County Council as part of the early intervention hub. Works on an outreach basis for young people aged 11 to 18 in their home and school environment and with the Youth Offending Service. Holistic assessments are performed and a recovery plan agreed including various motivational techniques such as CBT coping strategies.

Glenda Daniels – Oxfordshire Recovery Network – Service focussed on assisting with career and employment opportunities; education and academic work; helping to rebuild a social life and assistance with sustaining treatment via peer support. A second aim of the Service is to promote growing awareness of recovery within the local community, for example, a recovery café has been opened in Oxford, staffed by people in various stages of recovery. Another example is an enterprise hub is held in the local job centre.

Issues emerging from discussion and questioning were:

• The potential for reducing alcohol admissions
• The potential to widen the scope of the role of the A & E nurse to further the reduction of alcohol misuse reduction;
• A keenness for Public Health to undertake more school interventions in the form of a general information talk;
• Licensing issues;
• Only 50% of patients in GP surgeries undertake a Health Check – more information should be put into GP surgeries;
• More dual  diagnosis  required when screening for alcohol related health problems following self harm and overdose attempts with the Mental Health services.

The Committee congratulated the Panel on the considerable amount of work being done in this area, and its variety. The Panel were asked what major messages would they like to see taken up by the Committee. Jackie Wilderspin responded that the Department of Health needed to be challenged as often as possible on the policy on the sale of drink as there was considerable tension between contribution to the Exchequer of drink sales and the cost of services for alcohol addiction.

Following a full discussion it was AGREED to request the Senior Policy Officer to:

(a)               write to the Department of Health urging that more resources be directed to partnership working to combat alcohol addiction because it impinges on so many problem areas such as teenage pregnancy, crime and anti-social behaviour;

(b)               write to the Home Office urging that the manner in which alcohol is labelled be unified in order to avoid the current confusion. In addition that steps be taken to ban cheap alcohol being sold in local small shops in light of the difficulty experienced by people in recovery being faced with temptation each time they enter the shop;

(c)               urge the Police Commissioner for Oxfordshire not to take resources away from this very important area;

(d)               support the Public Health initiative contained in the third national strategy  to take steps to encourage individuals who may be exceeding safe levels of drinking to feel able to ask for help at an earlier stage; and

(e)               request the Deputy Director of Public Health to circulate the list of where the United Kingdom is in the world with regard to alcohol addiction and at the same time advising where it should be on the list.

The Committee thanked the panel of experts comprising commissioners and service managers for attending the meeting and for their useful contributions to the discussion.