MPs, Lords and over 50 organisations and experts write to the Prime Minister calling for an Independent Review of Alcohol Harm
ALCOHOL campaigners from the North East and across the UK, have written an open letter to the new Prime Minister calling for an Independent Review of Alcohol Harm.
The call to explore the impact alcohol is having on health, violence and crime and NHS services follows record levels of deaths during the pandemic, with nearly one million people in the North East (47%) drinking above the low risk alcohol guidelines and nearly one million hospital admissions a year nationally.
Balance has signed the letter which has been co-ordinated by the Alcohol Health Alliance (a consortium of over 60 organisations), Dan Carden (MP for Liverpool Walton), Parliamentarians and health experts. High levels of alcohol consumption have led to unprecedented harms across the UK and countless personal tragedies. Alcohol is the leading risk factor for death, ill-health, and disability amongst 15-49-year-olds, causing more working years of life lost than the ten most common cancers combined. The COVID-19 pandemic has exacerbated the situation to crisis point, with deaths from alcohol rising to record levels and the highest rates of alcohol-related hospital admissions and alcohol deaths in the North East.
It is estimated that alcohol costs our society at least £27 billion every year, with costs of over £1bn in the North East alone. Poor health also costs the economy and undermines the productivity of the working age population. The UK Government estimates that up to 17 million working days are lost each year in the UK because of alcohol-related sickness and the cost to employers of sick days due to alcohol is £1.7bn each year.
Sue Taylor Head of Alcohol Policy for Balance, the North East Alcohol Programme said: “We are running out of time – it has been 10 years since we last had a new strategy to tackle alcohol harm. Alcohol is impacting not just on our health and our NHS but our towns and cities, on crime and violence and on our emergency services.
“The UK was already at crisis point with alcohol long before Covid, but the pandemic saw a tipping point, especially in regions like the North East where we suffer the worst harms – we have nearly one million people drinking above the recommended limits.
“We need a full review of the impact of alcohol so that we can pinpoint solutions and take evidence-based actions at a national level to reduce alcohol harms.”
Alcohol harm is not felt equally across society: people from the lowest socio-economic groups are significantly more likely to feel the adverse impacts of alcohol, despite drinking less alcohol on average – with regions including the North East bearing the brunt.
The last UK Government alcohol strategy was in 2012 and successive governments have since failed to put forward a comprehensive plan to reduce the harms of alcohol.
In 2019, The Government commissioned an Independent Review of Drugs by Dame Carol Black. The unflinching analysis laid bare the scale of the problem and provided 32 recommendations. The majority of Dame Carol’s recommendations were adopted in the Government’s 10 Year Drug Strategy: From Harm to Hope. To tackle soaring levels of alcohol harm across the UK, Parliamentarians and experts are calling for an equivalent Independent Review of Alcohol Harm to inform a new alcohol strategy.
In its approach to illicit drugs, obesity, tobacco and gambling-related harm the Government has shown a willingness to take bold action to protect the public’s health – the same boldness is now required to tackle alcohol harm.
Dan Carden MP, who has talked openly in Parliament about his personal experience of alcohol addiction said: “After a decade of Government inaction, alcohol harm has reached crisis point – doing its worst damage in our most deprived communities.
Alcohol harm is a public health crisis that requires immediate Government intervention. With the highest alcohol-specific deaths on record, thousands of families destroyed and the enormous cost to the public purse, people are right to ask why there is no Government plan to tackle alcohol harm.
“The financial and social uncertainty of the cost-of-living crisis is expected to increase alcohol consumption at harmful levels. Government must prioritise improving public health and evidence-based policies and move beyond simply reinforcing damaging ignorant rhetoric.
“An Independent Review of Alcohol Harm is the only way we can understand the scale of the problem and provide targeted recommendations to reduce the devastating harms of alcohol.”
Sir Ian Gilmore, Chair of Alcohol Health Alliance said: “Alcohol harm is at record high levels, with more deaths caused by alcohol today than at any time in the last 20 years.
“The last alcohol strategy is now over a decade old and no longer relevant to the challenges we face. We urgently need an independent review of alcohol harm to help improve our nation’s health, take the pressure off the NHS and reduce the costs of alcohol-fuelled crime.”