New team to tackle effects of booze

EAST Lancashire Hospitals NHS Trust (ELHT) has secured funding on behalf of the Pennine Lancashire Integrated Care Partnership to establish an Alcohol Care Team in Pennine Lancashire.

The funding, awarded by the NHS National Prevention Programme, has been committed over a three-year period to reduce alcohol-related harm and the impact of this within the local area.

Pennine Lancashire has been identified as an area of significant risk around alcohol use, with more than 2,700 alcohol-related hospital admissions each year.

From 2018-2019 approximately 6,852 alcohol-dependant adults were identified across the area, and it is expected that this figure will have increased during the pandemic.

ELHT have recently appointed Laura Walker as Lead Nurse for Alcohol who will be responsible for the recruitment and management of the new Alcohol Care Team (ACT).

Laura is a qualified Mental Health Nurse and is looking forward to making a real difference.

The NHS Long Term Plan contains ambitious objectives to step up efforts in prevention, by detecting alcohol disease early and preventing deterioration of health.

It aims to improve quality of life through deploying ACTs in hospitals that are disproportionately affected by alcohol.

Public Health England reported that alcoholic liver deaths increased by 21 per cent across

England since the onset of Covid-19, which is likely due to an increased alcohol consumption, particularly among heavy drinkers.

Stress, loneliness and the lack of access to alcohol support services have resulted in many people drinking more alcohol and putting their livers at risk.

Alarmingly, these statistics show that those who come from the most deprived areas of the country are also disproportionately affected.

While restrictions may have eased, the long-term effects of the pandemic, including the effect of excess alcohol consumption are still to be seen.