E-bulletin for November 2009

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HubCAPP Awards

The HubCAPP team is pleased to announce that we are developing National Awards; this will include the HubCAPP Project of the Year. These awards are to recognise the many exceptional people and exceptional organisations working to prevent and reduce alcohol-related harm in England. Details are being finalised and will include opportunities for people to nominate and vote for their own and others work.

Watch the HubCAPP website for more information. www.hubcapp.org.uk

From Policy to Project

Devon Alcohol Harm Reduction Strategy 2008-2011 and linked project

The Devon Alcohol Harm Reduction Strategy draws together what is currently happening to address alcohol related harms across Devon. The strategy focuses on communities, families and individuals and attempts to reduce harms across health, social care and crime and disorder agendas.

The Devon PCT has increased investment in Alcohol services significantly for 2008/09. This was through the Devon Drug and Alcohol Action Team (DAAT) presenting a Business Case the evidenced the extent of alcohol related harm across Devon. New outcomes include:

  • A reduction in waiting times for alcohol treatment to 6 weeks by the end of year 1 (2008/09) and to 3 weeks by the end of year 2 (2009/2010). Current wait time for Tier 2 is 4 - 5 months. Tier 3 is up to 12 months.
  • Reduction in the rate of increase in alcohol related hospital admissions by 1% per year against an 11% rising trend as follows;

A project directly linked to this strategy is:

  • Devon Alcohol Service

    The Devon Alcohol Service covers the 4 tiers of service provision and is spread over three local areas. It has outreach across Devon, with provision in GPs surgeries, community hospitals, community mental health premises and voluntary agencies. The service provides a single point of referral to treatment through multiple access routes. Linkages within Criminal Justice settings are also targeted to provide opportunistic interventions - in custody suites, probation and in HM Prison (Exeter).

    Link

Read more on the Strategy

New Additions to the Hub

Doncaster Alcohol Hotspots Project

This youth project aimed at tackling anti-social behaviour in troubled hotspots by holding consultations and then developing activities that young people wanted in those areas to engage them. The ultimate aim was in using these methods to understand the issues facing young people in Doncaster and apply more specific and effective solutions for them. Local stakeholders (including social workers and the Police) were consulted to identify the most troublesome locations (resources limited the number of places that could be targeted). Members of the Doncaster Arts and Positive Future Leisure group then consulted young people at peak times (Friday evenings mainly) to find out what activities they would like.

The resulting activities were mainly issue based and in groups of up to 30 individuals and included football, graffiti, street art, basketball among many others.

Read more

Wirral Alcohol Identification and Brief Advice within Pharmacies

This project contracted all of the pharmacies in Wirral to deliver coordinated alcohol identification and brief advice (also known as screening and brief intervention). It also included a provision for referral onto other services if cases warranted such attention. This work is part of an ever growing movement to increase the amount of intervention work in community services within Wirral.

This project was identified in Wirral's Alcohol Strategy. Customers are encouraged to complete a short questionnaire about their alcohol consumption. After which, appropriate advice is offered depending on their responses. Training was also provided to enable the staff to provide a follow-up service where the customer was contacted after 8 and 52 weeks to analyse the effect of the intervention.

The service is offered free and all conversations with pharmacy staff are confidential. The staff are also equipped undertake screening with customers who frequently present symptoms associated with alcohol misuse (eg gastric problems, falls and associated injuries and hangovers), and also during a Medication Use Review (MUR) or smoking cessation consultation.

Read more

Nottingham City Framework Housing Association's Brief Advice Service (Last Orders)

Commencing in September 2008 the program delivers training to primary care staff (GPs, nurses, midwives and health educators) on AUDIT and provides ongoing support to ensure they feel confident undertaking IBA. The service also delivers extended brief advice and is working towards producing clear treatment pathways for people in Nottingham; this includes ensuring that primary care staff refer appropriately.

The project is monitored by the PCT on the following measures: all new referrals; repeat attendance; AUDIT scores and units consumed; number of training sessions delivered; number of Brief Advice and extended Brief Advice sessions delivered and completion rates. Also on onward referrals and referral signposting.

Read more

Updates from Alcohol Concern and Alcohol Learning Centre

Update your project

You can now update your own HubCAPP project/s, including contact details and work that has taken place since your project went live. Updates can be made at any time, giving you greater ownership of the information displayed on the site. We are also developing automatic reminders to keep contact details up to date.

To update your project follow the 'My Details' link at the top of HubCAPP website home page.