Project

Nottingham City | Alcohol Nurse Liaison Team

Description:

Nottingham Alcohol Liaison Team has been operational since March 2002. Based principally at the Queen’s Medical Centre this patient-centred project works closely with local statutory and non-statutory healthcare, alcohol and drugs services as part of its inclusive and co-ordinated approach.

The team provides a range of services spanning tier 1-4 of MoCAM including:

  • Screening and brief interventions using the AUDIT screening tool
  • Extended brief intervention clinic
  • Alcohol Liver Disease clinic
  • A continuation of detox service
  • Referral into non statutory settings
  • Alcohol related protocols
  • Fast track referrals into Nottingham Alcohol and Drug Team (NADT)
  • Outpatient appointments
  • Medical Management
  • Teaching

Since its inception the project has seen over 4000 referrals from the hospital inpatient setting and has seen significant outpatient activity through the Extended Brief Interventions and Alcohol Liver Disease clinics. The continuation of detox service has enabled patients who commence their detox on the wards to complete their treatment in the community. This has improved admission times alongside enhancing continuity of care.

The team also provides an important training function and has provided alcohol awareness, screening and brief interventions and alcohol withdrawal training sessions to over 1500 staff in the Nottinghamshire area.

The project has encouraged service user involvement throughout its development via the Patient Advocacy Liaison Service, the Alcohol user Forum and Living It. A pool of service user volunteers have also contributed to alcohol liaison training sessions and been involved in highlighting the team’s work in local and national media such as:

In February 2006 the team expanded to offer a drug liaison service to complement their core alcohol work. The project has also recently received further funding from the local Crime and Disorder Reduction Partnership to expand their service to cover the Emergency Department at Nottingham City Hospital.

Project status: Ongoing

Project type: Project

Project code: JIR3