Funding boost for alcohol treatment schemes

Tuesday, 1 November 2005 12:00 AM

Projects helping treat people with alcohol problems received a £3.2 million boost today as the government unveiled its new alcohol treatment programme.

Public health minister Caroline Flint said the strategy would focus attention on helping people give up drinking at an early stage, to help both themselves and reduce the burden such problems put on society.

"We have found that treatment does make a real difference. By helping ten per cent of dependent drinkers to give up alcohol, we can save the public sector up to £156 million each year," she told the annual conference of charity Alcohol Concern.

Alcohol abuse costs the British economy £18 billion every year in treatment and loss of earnings, but recent findings in the British Medical Journal suggest that for every £1 spent on treatment early on, £5 could be saved elsewhere.

An alcohol treatment audit published by the government today reveals that 1.1 million people in Britain are dependent on alcohol - 3.6 per cent of the adult population - and eight million people drink above the recommended limits.

However, the audit finds low levels of identification, treatment and referral of patients with alcohol problems by local GPs, particularly among young people.

A number of specialist agencies have sprung up to fill this gap, however - an increase of 43 per cent since previous estimates - and many have reported high levels of satisfaction.

The funding announced today will go part of the way towards meeting the £217 million annual cost of this specialist treatment, carried out in different health and criminal justice environments.

"Alcohol misuse has a devastating effect on millions of lives every year. The publication of the alcohol treatment audit gives us, for the first time, a comprehensive understanding of the trends of alcohol misuse and service provision available across the country," Ms Flint said.

The new initiatives the government was investing in would encourage intervention at the earliest possible stage of alcohol misuse, she said, while tools were also being developed to help health organisations - including GPs - improve treatment services.

A previous study conducted by the prime minister's strategy unit found 17 million working days are lost every year to hangovers and drink-related illnesses.

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