Alcohol misuse - guidance
This section includes resources which provide information, guidance and support to help practitioners who are involved in the prevention and management of alcohol abuse.
Some of the resources on this page are in PDF format - see how to access PDF files.
Learning opportunities
Alcohol Learning Centre
The Alcohol Learning Centre is part of the Alcohol Improvement Programme and is a resource for commissioners, planners and practitioners working to reduce alcohol-related harm. It aims to be an on-line one-stop-shop which collates, co-ordinates and disseminates learning and promising practice from across the NHS and the third sector.
Coventry University: National Dual Diagnosis E-Learning Resource
The National Mental Health Development Unit National Dual Diagnosis Programme commissioned PROGRESS, a group of consultant nurses, and Coventry University to develop an online resource to raise awareness around dual diagnosis, the term which is used to describe people who have mental health and drug/alcohol issues. The resource has four modules looking at what dual diagnosis means from a number of different perspectives and the impact on and challenges for people with co-existing mental health and alcohol and drug issues and for their carers.
Nursing Standard (2010) Integrated assessment of older adults who misuse alcohol: This continuing professional development article written by C Wallace et al aims to help nurses understand the principles of integrated assessment for older people who present with alcohol use and illustrates these using a case scenario. It points to various assessment tools that can be used including the Wales Integrated In-depth Substance Misuse Assessment Tool.
RCN members can access the full text of this article via the RCN e-library.
Royal College of Nursing (RCN) Learning Zone: Alcohol and minimal interventions
This resource provides the learner with the opportunity to recognise the scale of alcohol use and misuse in the UK; explain the diagnostic categories of alcohol misuse; select a screening tool to determine harmful, hazardous and dependent patterns of alcohol use; differentiate between a minimal intervention and a brief intervention; and describe the principles of delivering interventions for the patient/client". This area is in the clinical skills section of the Learning Zone.
Guidance
Alcohol Concern (2010) Investing in alcohol treatment - reducing costs and improving lives. Alcohol Concern's learning from 10 years of consultancy and training
This publication is aimed primarily at national and local decision makers. Based on 10 years of consultancy and training work it sets out Alcohol Concern's views on key questions around developing a range of alcohol services for those who have problems or who are at a risk of developing problems.
Alcohol Education and Research Council
The Council funds projects within the United Kingdom for evidence-based education and research on alcohol related issues.
Alcohol information in Scotland
This website provides a wide range of information on alcohol for Scotland. This includes statistics, research, publications, key policy documents and practice guidelines as well as links to useful websites. Up to date news is reported through daily media monitoring.
Alcohol Health Alliance UK
This page on alcohol is part of the public health priorities section of the Royal College of Physicians website and describes the origins and work of the Alcohol Health Alliance UK. It lists downloadable versions of the Alliance’s policy briefings. The Royal College of Nursing is a member of the Alliance.
Alcohol Learning Centre
This website provides online resources and learning for commissioners, planners and practitioners working to reduce alcohol-related harm. (The resources, projects and strategies were formerly published on the HubCAPP website hosted by the Department of Health and Alcohol Concern).
Alcohol Policy UK
This blog aims to help professionals in the alcohol harm reduction field stay up to date with news and best practice.
British Society of Gastroenterology, Alcohol Health Alliance UK, and the British Association for Study of the Liver (2010) Alcohol-related disease : meeting the challenge of improved quality of care and better use of resources - a joint position paper
This paper makes 11 key recommendations relevant to a typical British District General Hospital, serving a population of 250,000. "If implemented, they should improve quality and efficiency of care, lower mortality and reduce admissions and readmissions for patients with alcohol related problems". The paper also provides the evidence base for effective policies and an appropriate workforce required to implement them.
Centre for Public Health, Liverpool John Moores University (2010) Alcohol and food: making the public health connections (PDF 2.16MB)
"Public and professional understanding of the links between food and alcohol are generally poorly developed. Inconsistent and conflicting messages can inevitably influence choices people make about consumption". This report reviews the literature and considers the evidence around links between alcohol and food consumption and effects on health . It also looks at interventions for promoting healthy food and alcohol consumption and what needs to be done to ensure messages and advice about this are clear .
Clinical Knowledge Summaries: Alcohol - problem drinking - management
Clinical Knowledge Summaries are a source of evidence-based information and practical 'know-how' about the common conditions managed in primary care. There are summaries on hazardous/harmful drinking and dependence on alcohol.
Department for Education: Alcohol, drugs & substance misuse
This page provides links to publications relating to the use of drugs and alcohol by children and young people.
Department of Health: Alcohol misuse
This brings together policies and publications under a range of subheadings which cover different activities and contexts.
Department of Health: Alcohol and young people
Resources and advice specifically for young people.
Department of Health (2011) Supporting partnerships to reduce alcohol harm: key findings, recommendations and case studies from the Alcohol Harm Reduction National Support Team
This report contains signposting, six case studies and examples of good practice.
Department of Health (2009) Guidance on the consumption of alcohol by children and young people. A report by the Chief Medical Officer
This guidance addresses the growing public concern about the level and pattern of drinking among children and young people and about the impact of alcohol on health, crime, violence and anti-social behaviour. Each guidance statement is followed by the rationale, the underpinning evidence and implications.
Department of Health (2009) Signs for Improvement: Commissioning interventions to reduce alcohol-related harm
This guidance is designed to direct commissioners 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 at all stages in the commissioning cycle.
Drug and Alcohol Findings
Drug and Alcohol Findings bridges the divide between research on the effectiveness of responses to drug and alcohol problems and the practitioners who provide those interventions, with a focus on UK-relevant research.
Drugsalcoholinfo
This website has been developed by the Health Promotion Agency for Northern Ireland in support of the Northern Ireland Drugs and Alcohol Campaign funded by the Department of Health, Social Services and Public Safety.
HM Government (2008) Safe, Sensible, Social. Alcohol strategy local implementation toolkit
This toolkit provides a step-by-step process on how to develop a local alcohol strategy, and sugggests a range of activities to help with the three key strategic areas of health, community safety and children and young people.
Institute of Alcohol Studies
The focus of the institute's work is making evidence-based information on alcohol accessible to anyone with an interest in alcohol. It does this through providing an independent voice on alcohol policy, factsheets on key aspects of alcohol policy, and writing research papers.
National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence (2011) Alcohol dependence and harmful alcohol use quality standard
This quality standard covers the care of children (aged 10-15 years), young people (aged 16-17 years) and adults (aged 18 years and over) drinking in a harmful way and those with alcohol dependence in all NHS-funded settings. It also includes opportunistic screening and brief interventions for hazardous and harmful drinkers.
National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence (2011) Services for the identification and treatment of hazardous drinking, harmful drinking and alcohol dependence in children, young people and adults
This guide for commissioners provides support for the local implementation of NICE guidance through commissioning and is a resource to help commissioners, clinicians and managers to commission evidence based and quality services across England. This supports the new quality standard.
National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence Clinical guideline (2011) Alcohol use disorders: diagnosis, assessment and management of harmful drinking and alcohol dependence (CG 115)
This clinical guideline which is one of three pieces of NICE guidance addressing alcohol-related problems, offers evidence-based advice on the diagnosis, assessment and management of harmful drinking and alcohol dependence in adults and in young people aged 10–17 years. It needs to be read in conjunction with the other related guidance.
National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence Clinical Guideline (2010) Alcohol use disorders: physical complications (CG100)
This guidance covers the care of adults and young people (aged 10 years and older) who have any of the following physical health problems that are completely or partly caused by alcohol use, acute alcohol withdrawal (which occurs if a ‘dependent’ drinker suddenly stops drinking), lack of thiamine (also called vitamin B1) in the body, which can cause a condition called Wernicke’s encephalopathy, liver disease and inflammation of the pancreas (called pancreatitis).
National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence Public health guidance (2010) Alcohol-use disorders: preventing the development of hazardous and harmful drinking (PH24)
This guidance is for government, industry and commerce, the NHS and all those whose actions affect the population’s attitude to – and use of – alcohol. This includes commissioners, managers and practitioners working in local authorities, education, the wider public, private, voluntary and community sectors. It may also be of interest to members of the public.
National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence (2010) Blood alcohol concentration special reports
Two special reports have been produced by Nice, on behalf of the Department for Transport to help inform the national road safety strategy, focussing on reducing the number of alcohol-related road deaths. They examine the potential effects of reducing the UK’s legal blood alcohol concentration limit. The reports are: 'Blood alcohol concentration - review of effectiveness' and 'Blood alcohol concentration - road traffic modelling'.
National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence Public health intervention guidance (2007) School-based interventions on alcohol
This Nice guidance on school based interventions to prevent and reduce alcohol use is aimed at anyone who works with children and young people in schools and other education settings.
National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence Public health programme guidance (2007) Behaviour change: the most appropriate means of generic and specific interventions to support attitude and behaviour change at population and community levels
This guidance provides a systematic, coherent and evidence-based approach, considering generic principles for changing people's health-related knowledge, attitudes and behaviour, at individual, community and population levels.
NHS Evidence (2012) Alcohol-use disorders: physical complications Evidence Update March 2012 (PDF 315KB)
A summary of selected new evidence relevant to NICE clinical guideline 100 ‘Diagnosis and management of alcohol-related physical complications’ (2010).
Primary Care Contracting (2009) Primary Care Service Framework: Alcohol Services in Primary Care
Aims to equip commissioners, providers and practitioners with the necessary background knowledge, service and implementation details to safely deliver support for alcohol interventions in primary care. Provides examples of good practice around alcohol services in primary care.
Royal College of Midwives (2010) Alcohol and pregnancy guidance paper
This guidance paper discusses some of the issues around the effects of alcohol on the fetus and provides some good practice points based on current available evidence. The publication is available for downloading from this page of guidance papers on the Royal College of Midwives website.
Royal College of Nursing (2007) Nurses as partners in delivering public health (PDF 157.8KB)
This publication was produced by an alliance of organisations and supports the nursing contribution to public health, as well as highlighting how nurses can strengthen their positions so that they can better influence the health of communities.
Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists (2006) Alcohol consumption and the outcomes of pregnancy
A statement designed to help women and their care providers when discussing the risks of alcohol consumption at the time of conception and during pregnancy. The statement addresses issues relating to fertility, early fetal development, growth and maturation and long-term neurodevelopmental and behavioural outcomes.
Scottish Government (2008) Integrated Care for Drug or Alcohol Users: Principles and Practice Update 2008
This document has been produced as part of the work of the Scottish Advisory Committee on Drug Misuse (SACDM) Working Group on Integrated Care in order to provide further guidance and information on what integrated care should look like and what it should deliver for service users bringing up to date the 2002 guidance.
Scottish Intercollegiate Guidelines Network (2007) National clinical guideline. Risk estimation and the prevention of cardiovascular disease (SIGN 97)
This guideline deals with primary and secondary prevention of cardiovascular disease. The guideline includes a chapter on alcohol.
Scottish Intercollegiate Guidelines Network (2003) National clinical guideline. Management of harmful drinking and alcohol dependence in primary care (Sign 74)
This guideline covers patients with alcohol dependence, hazardous or harmful drinking in primary care (general practice and community nursing) and those attending but not admitted from A&E departments.
Welsh Assembly Government (2010) You, your children and alcohol: guidance on the consumption of alcohol by children and young people
The Chief Medical Officer for Wales, Dr Tony Jewell, has advised parents that children under 15 should not drink alcohol in new guidance on drinking among young people. A related public awareness campaign is to be launched in July.
World Health Organization (2010) Best practice in estimating the costs of alcohol – recommendations for future studies
This report aims to summarise best practice in estimating the attributable and avoidable costs of alcohol considering each type of cost such as health care costs and crime costs and looks at the issues that come up in different types of cost studies and makes recommendations on how to address these. It gives special consideration to the varying amount and quality of available data in different countries. The report includes information on the general methodological aspects of cost studies.