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DH Alcohol Publications

  • Last modified date:
    21 December 2009

Advice

Pregnancy & Alcohol
This booklet offers information about drinking – when you’re trying to conceive, during pregnancy, and while breastfeeding.

Units & You
This booklet explains the effect of alcohol on your health and on your social, home and work life. It tells you the number of units in different alcoholic drinks so you can keep tabs on what you’re drinking. It also gives useful advice and contact details if you want to cut down or get support.

Commissioning

Signs for Improvement: Commissioning interventions to reduce alcohol-related harm

This guidance is designed to direct commissioners in areas where tackling alcohol harm is an identified priority, to the resources and guidance, which will assist them in commissioning interventions to reduce alcohol-related harm in their local community. It offers ways to improve commissioning, looking at each World Class Commissioning competency and all stages in the commissioning cycle.

Local Routes: Guidance for developing alcohol treatment pathways
This document provides good practice guidance on the development of integrated care pathways for people with alcohol problems – alcohol treatment pathways (ATPs). It is illustrated with a number of examples but is not intended to provide an exhaustive resource of off-the-shelf pathways.

Treatment

Alcohol Misuse Interventions: Guidance on developing a local programme of improvement
This document provides guidance on developing local programmes for screening and brief interventions of hazardous and harmful drinkers, together with guidance on treatment for dependent drinkers. 

Models of care for alcohol misusers (MoCAM)
Models of care for alcohol misusers (MoCAM) provides best practice guidance for local health organisations and their partners in delivering a planned and integrated local treatment system for adult alcohol misusers.

Review of the effectiveness of treatment for alcohol problems
This review is a critical appraisal of the evidence base for the treatments available for people with alcohol problems. The review covers interventions ranging from simple advice and mutual aid to intensive specialist treatment. It was written to inform Models of Care for Alcohol Misusers (MoCAM).

Research

Independent Review of the Effects of Alcohol Pricing and Promotion
In December 2008, the Department of Health published an independent review, by the School of Health and Related Research at the University of Sheffield (ScHARR) to better understand the link between alcohol related harm and how alcohol is promoted and priced. Government is evaluating the findings.

Alcohol Needs Assessment Research Project (ANARP)
The Alcohol Needs Assessment Research Project (ANARP) was commissioned by the Department of Health.  It presents information at a national and regional level to highlight the range of alcohol use disorders in the population and the range of services currently available to offer treatment for alcohol problems. The report identifies gaps in services and the regional variations in access to current treatment.

Birmingham Heavy Drinkers Project
The aim of the project was to recruit a sample of 500 heavy drinkers from the local community and via one to one confidential interviews and a ten year longitudinal study design explore the history and maintenance of heavy drinking in the community.

Government Policy

Safe. Sensible. Social. The next steps in the National Alcohol Strategy
In June 2007, the Department of Health and the Home Office jointly launched an updated government alcohol strategy, setting out clear goals and actions to promote sensible drinking and reduce the harm that alcohol can cause.

Safe. Sensible. Social. Alcohol strategy local implementation toolkit
This toolkit is a resource to help local teams develop strategies to address alcohol-related crime, ill health and other harm in line with Safe. Sensible. Social. The next steps in the National Alcohol Strategy.

Health Impact Assessment of Safe. Sensible. Social.
The Department of Health commissioned a health impact assessment of 'Safe. Sensible. Social. The next steps in the National Alcohol Strategy' (formerly the 'National Alcohol Harm Reduction Strategy').

Equality Impact Assessment (EqIA) of Safe. Sensible. Social
EqIA is a legal requirement on public bodies as part of the public duties on Race, Gender and Disability. In line with Department of Health Guidelines and general good practice, this assessment also includes an analysis of the possible impacts on other equality strands – sexual orientation, religion or belief, age and socio-economic background/social class. This report outlines the process of the assessment and findings.

Safe. Sensible. Social.  – Consultation on further action
Government consulted between July - October 2008 on whether to strengthen standards for the responsible production and sale of alcohol, and on whether the NHS could improve advice and support for those that need it. A summary of responses to the consultation has been published.

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