Alcohol Aftercare Service (East Riding)
The ADS has recently been awarded a contract to deliver an alcohol aftercare service for residents in the East Riding.
This is a part of the continuing development of the alcohol treatment system across the East Riding. The aftercare service will link with the Community Alcohol Team (CAT) who deliver detoxification treatment and provide service users with the aftercare to ensure that they are supported back into the community in such a way as to maintain the positive changes made during their stay with the CAT.
The preparation work is currently underway and the service will open it's doors in the Spring
NELCAT (North East Lincolnshire Community Alcohol Team)
NELCAT have opened a new building at 10 Dudley Street in Grimsby.
Until this point the various functions of the CAT were spread across a number of buildings. From thismonth the whole team will be housed in one plac. This will enable the team to develop it's identity and specialist services for alcohol misusers.
This is an exciting development and is part of the continuing improvement of the team and the services they deliver.
North Lincolnshire Alcohol Service
The ADS have recently been awarded a contract to deliver the new Alcohol Service across North Lincolnshire.
This is an exciting oportunity to design and deliver a service to the people in North Lincolnshire. The service will open it's doors on the 1st. April 2010 and will include;
Community detoxification
A liaison nurse within Scunthorpe General Hospital
Screening and interventions within Primary Care
Direct Access
Aftercare
Once the contract has been signed then we will proceed to recruitment.
National Alcohol Strategy
Alcohol Harm Reduction Strategy for England was updated with the more recent Safe. Sensible. Social document.
With a recent study identifying that almost 26% of the adult population has an Alcohol Use Disorder (AUD) the size of the problem is quite simply enormous and has a wide ranging impact on most, if not all, facets of live in the coutry.
While the issue is steadily rising up the agenda identifying resources to deliver meaningful progress in this field is difficult. The ADS recognises the difficulties and is working closely with the health leads in the areas in which it operates to offer solutions which build on exisitng services and resources. this reflects the view that as an issue alcohol is so purvasive that it crosses all mainstream services and as such any long term solutions will need to be embedded within those services. That said the ADS recognises that specislist services are required for dependent and some harmful drinkers.
The evidence underpinning both the assesstment of the prevelance and the interventions that make a difference is growing and the ADS is looking closely at these in order to inform its response to the problem.
In North East Lincolnshire for instance, a Community Alcohol Team has been operational since 2007. Using the most recent evidence the service has now developed to encompass all the elements of a treatment system. For further details please see the section on Alcohol services under The Junction North East Lincolnshire.
A number of scary statistics were quoted in the original strategy and include:
• 1.2 million violent incidents per year – around half of all violent crime is alcohol-related
• 22,000 premature deaths per year
• up to 1.3 million children are affected by parental alcohol problems
• at peak times, up to 70% of admissions to A&E departments are alcohol-related
• there are approximately 30,000 hospital admissions per year for alcohol dependence syndrome
• alcohol misuse is costing the country £20 billion per year
There is evidence that one of the most effective ways of reducing the consumption across a population is to narrow the gap between disposable income and cost of alcohol. The cry that this penalises those who drink sensibly can be heard across the country whenever this issue is raised. A challenge to this point of view is that if we are concerned about the impact on our own lives and on the society in which we all live then do we all not need to take some responsibility for the solution?
Alcohol is so engraned in our culture that it is a very difficult issue to debate rationally. So many of us have so many strong opinions on the subject, indeed there are many people in the country whos jobs are dependent on the drinks industry. The ADS recognises that this is not a straightforward issue and thus there are no straightforward solutions but it does believe that the issue needs addressing and very much welcomes the fact that the debate has now started.
Quality in Alcohol and Drug Services (QuADS)
This describes the quality standards that agencies need to reach in order to be able to deliver effective services.
The ADS uses the QuADS framework to monitor and assure quality of its services.
|
