Welcome to the Alcohol Change UK September newsletter!

August saw several interesting alcohol stories in the news, as well as the last in our series of six rapid evidence reviews and the announcement of the theme for Alcohol Awareness Week. We’re now making final preparations for our conference in Wales, which takes place this month. Read on to find out about all this and more!

In this newsletter:

Book your tickets for this month’s annual alcohol conference in Wales

Alcohol and everything else: When drinking isn’t the only issue

18 September 2019 – Wrexham Glyndŵr University

Our conference, ‘Alcohol and everything else’, takes place in less than two weeks at Wrexham Glyndŵr University. At the event, we’ll be focusing on how to provide the best support for people who might not fit the usual treatment criteria – including some of the most vulnerable people in our communities. It’s set to be a very exciting day.
 
The conference is easily accessible by car or public transport, as it is only 20 minutes by taxi from Chester station, which is on a direct line from London and Manchester.

Read blogs from several of our speakers, who will be covering topics including eating disorders, autism and gambling.

You can read the full agenda here.
Book your place — last few tickets remaining!

Alcohol Awareness Week - sign up for free resources

11 - 17 November 2019

We’re gearing up for Alcohol Awareness Week 2019, with the theme ‘Alcohol and me’. We’ll be exploring how alcohol affects us and our bodies, those around us and society as a whole. It’s set to be a very exciting week!

Sign up to receive updates on the campaign and to receive free, downloadable resources at the start of October. If your organisation has plans for Alcohol Awareness Week, please let us know!
Sign up now

Exploring alcohol harm: concluding our series of rapid evidence reviews


On 16 August we published the last in our series of six rapid evidence reviews looking into priority areas in the field of alcohol harm reduction. The studies looked into alcohol and mental health, BAME groups, alcohol-related brain damage, digital interventions to deliver health advice, the criminal justice system and intimate partner violence. You can read all the individual pieces of research here.

We would like to thank all the researchers involved for their hard work. We hope the findings will help to inform other researchers and funding organisations, as they will our work going forward.
Read the reviews

The Portman Group: is 'encouraging' producers to display guidelines enough?

At the end of July, the Portman Group announced it would encourage “all alcohol producers to include the Chief Medical Officers’ (CMOs) low risk drinking guidance on their labels.” That means it’s still not a legal requirement to include them at all, but it is now highly recommended alcohol producers do so. Although we welcome this decision, we also have a few questions to ask.

Read more in this blog

Alcohol news

NHS staff sick days due to alcohol

A recent study by NHS digital found that NHS staff took around 7,000 days of sick leave in 2018 due to drug or alcohol use. Many staff members may use drink or drugs to cope with stress, which can lead to sick days. We commented on the figures in this article.

Smoking, drinking and young people in England


On 20 August, NHS Digital published its new research looking into young people of secondary school age and their relationship with drinking and smoking. It showed that pupils who take drugs, smoke and drink are more likely to be unhappy, as well as that those in affluent families are more likely to drink than other young people of the same age. Read the research.
 
Read the research

Why the recent 'red wine is good for your gut' headlines are misleading

Recently, a piece of research was published that led to many media headlines exclaiming that red wine is good for your gut. The NHS have published a piece explaining where the misleading headlines come from, and what the research actually showed.

Highest number of drink-drive deaths since 2009

 
Data from the Department for Transport show that there were between 230 and 270 fatal road accidents in 2017 where at least one of the drivers involved was under the influence of alcohol. However, the figures also show that the number of people injured in drink-drive crashes has fallen.
 
Read more

New AHA campaign: what would you choose?

Cuts to public health budgets mean that people who need help for addiction are not getting it. Alcohol tax has been cut, which amounts to £1bn of savings for the alcohol industry — that's enough to pay the salaries of 40,000 nurses. The new AHA campaign asks: what would you choose?

Latest blogs

Jan's story: "I accept my past. I need to remember it and make my future better."

Jan grew up in pubs, surrounded by alcohol. She battled with drinking for many years, but sought help, and her life changed for the better as a result.

Read her story

Prof Mark Brosnan on making alcohol treatment more autism-friendly

In this blog, Prof Mark Brosnan explores some of the reasons why people with autism might drink, and how services can be made more autism-friendly. 

Read the blog
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