News
- Survey shows post-pandemic increase in drinking for some
- Scottish Government commit to further plans to restrict alcohol marketing
- Challenge and Change: Rod Anderson
- Parliament must come together to renew and reinvigorate MUP
- A responsible drinking campaign that features cocktail recipes
- Unacceptable rise in alcohol-specific deaths
- Health experts share concerns about complaint made on MUP evaluation
- Decline in alcohol treatment in Scotland
- Challenge and Change: Lived Experience Voices on Alcohol Marketing
- Blog post for Alcohol Awareness Week 2023
- Final verdict on MUP
- Alcohol and diabetes
- Doctors say lack of response on alcohol deaths could spell disaster for Scotland
- MUP reduces deaths and hospital admissions
- Alcohol hospital admissions continue to be too high
- Lessons learned from countries with marketing restrictions
- What is the effect of alcohol marketing on people with or at risk of an alcohol problem?
- ONS figures show highest alcohol deaths on record
- MUP and alcohol sales
- Scottish Government launches alcohol marketing consultation
- MUP and alcohol products and prices
- Scottish Health Survey 2021
- New licensing policy review guide
- Slight increase in alcohol-specific deaths
- Health campaigners call on Scottish Government to regulate alcohol packaging
- Scottish charity calls for ban on all alcohol promotion
- New NCD Prevention Report - Mapping Future Harm
- Online Alcohol Sales & Deliveries: A survey of young people in Scotland
- Four years of MUP
- Prominent health warnings make drinking “unappealing”
- Insights from People in Recovery
- Meet our Engagement Team Marc
- Meet our Engagement Team Megan
- Report on alcohol sales and harm in Scotland during the COVID-19 pandemic
- Sugar content in wine revealed
- Alcohol hospital admissions lower during pandemic
- Study reveals those already at risk from heavy drinking bought more alcohol during lockdowns
- Alcohol policy measures could reduce ambulance callouts
- 18.6% increase in deaths from alcohol in 2020
- Widespread support for calls to increase minimum unit price for alcohol to 65p
- Students as Change Agents
- Health charities call for action to save lives from Scotlands biggest killers
- Three quarters of Scots back new controls to help protect children from alcohol advertising
- Alcohol-specific deaths in Scotland increase
- More accurate estimates for the burden of Alcohol on the Ambulance Service: around 1 in 6 callouts in Scotland are alcohol related
- How can alcohol labels be improved to help people make informed consumption choices
- Health experts call for better alcohol labelling
- Young people and their views on alcohol marketing
- Lowest alcohol sales in Scotland for 26 years
- Minimum unit pricing has lasting impact study shows
- Euros renews call for action to protect children from alcohol sports sponsorship
- Current alcohol labelling of little relevance to young adult drinkers
- Governments should step up efforts to tackle harmful alcohol consumption
- Scottish public and leading health experts back changes to alcohol labelling
- AFS calls for 65p minimum unit price for alcohol
- How will the main parties prevent harm from alcohol?
- Alcohol labelling reform is way past its sell by date
- Alcohol policy priorities for the next parliament
- Young drinkers believe prominent health warnings on alcohol could boost risk awareness
- Alcohol and the Workplace Effective Interventions
- Alcohol sales and consumption in Scotland during the pandemic
- How can we prevent alcohol deaths?
- Alcohol Deaths and Minimum Unit Pricing
- YoungScot Health Panel report on alcohol marketing and harm
- Young Scots show support for restrictions on alcohol marketing
- New release of alcohol related hospital admissions
- Better alcohol labelling – A way to boost awareness of the risk between alcohol and cancer?
- NICE Guidelines on FASD Surveillance or Support?
- Alcohol Deaths Prevention Support
- Almost half of Scots in favour of minimum unit pricing
- Leading health charities call for action in Scotland
- Health experts campaign for better understanding of Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder
- Health experts call for alcohol labelling overhaul
- Australian ministers agree to visible pregnancy warning
- Alcohol Focus Scotland welcomes new WHO report on alcohol pricing
- Survey shows Scots lockdown drinking rise caused by stress
- Statistical analysis of off-trade alcohol sales in the year following MUP
- Alcohol Focus Scotland Review of statements of licensing policy 2018 to 2023
- We need to continue long-term focus on alcohol
- Scots report changing drinking patterns during coronavirus lockdown
- Time to Blow the Whistle on Alcohol Sport Sponsorship
- New evidence demonstrates that alcohol ads lead to youth drinking
- Alcohol sales fall in first year of MUP
- First study published into under 18 drinkers post MUP
- Commission on Alcohol Harm calls for evidence
- Two years on Are annual functions reports reaching their potential?
- We need to do more to protect our children and young people
- New Alcohol Deaths Prevention Support Now Available from AFS
- Scottish primary children call for action on alcohol
- Its time to tell us whats in our drinks
- A home for Rory
- Making a bad impression - blog post
- Alcohol marketing and children debate in the Scottish Parliament
- Alcohol sales and MUP
- Lowest alcohol sales in 25 years
- Research into fall in violence
- The Children's Parliament investigates an alcohol-free childhood
- Minimum unit pricing one year on
- More about sales data
- A family of resources it is all about prevention, education and resilience
- AFS publish Review of Licensing Board Annual Functions Reports 2017-2018
- Marketing unmasked dispelling the myths and taking a stand
- No place for alcohol marketing in sport
- Scotland publishes first UK guidelines for diagnosing fetal alcohol spectrum disorder (FASD)
- The Alcohol Framework 2018 Preventing Harm
- Scotlands new drug and alcohol strategy launched
- AFS welcome new alcohol strategy
- Recent reporting on alcohol sales data
- Diageo is failing to provide latest guidelines on their products
- Drinks companies keeping consumers in dark about risky drinking
- Reducing alcohol consumption can address health inequalities
- Global first alcohol policy set to save hundreds of Scots' lives
- AFS welcomes minimum unit pricing for alcohol
- Truer picture of alcohol harm revealed
- Alcohol causes 3,700 deaths in Scotland every year
- Scotland's licensing system needs clearer direction
- Minimum pricing blog
- Minimum pricing gets green light
- Alcohol brands and young people
- Time for honest conversations about alcohol
- Q&A on alcohol marketing
- UK children anxious about parents' drinking
- Alcohol producers failing to inform public
- Concern over alcohol-related deaths
- We need to make it easier for people to drink less
- Worrying rise in alcohol-related deaths
- Minimum pricing will save lives
- Pocket money prices for alcohol continue
- Scotland's alcohol problem laid bare
- Cheap alcohol is costing Scotland dear
- One drink a day can increase breast cancer risk
- Poverty linked to increased harm from alcohol
- What next for reducing alcohol harm in Scotland?
- Scotland must do more to turn tide of alcohol harm
- Concern as funding for alcohol services cut
- Scottish Government urged to curb alcohol marketing
- Consumers have the right to know health risks
- Alcohol-free childhood is healthiest option
- SWA granted leave to appeal minimum pricing
- SWA will appeal to UK Supreme Court
- SWA urged to respect minimum pricing decision
- Minimum pricing can be implemented in Scotland
- Emergency services face shocking levels of alcohol abuse
- Every child has the right to grow up safe from alcohol harm
- Minimum pricing - European court ruling
Newly published figures reveal 40% drop in alcohol treatment in Scotland over 10 years
- Access to specialist alcohol treatment has declined by 40% over the past 10 years
- Even before the pandemic, the number of people accessing treatment had dropped by 30%
- Alcohol deaths are at their highest level since 2008
- Increased investment in services and recovery support - alongside renewal and uprating of minimum unit price and restricting alcohol marketing - are urgently needed to turn the tide of harm
New analysis by Alcohol Focus Scotland shows that access to specialist alcohol treatment dropped by 40% over the last 10 years.
And the charity has warned that if we don’t act now to prevent and treat alcohol problems, Scotland could be turning the clock back 30 years to when death rates soared to record levels. In 2021, 1,245 people lost their lives to alcohol-specific causes, the highest number since 2008.
Early access to person-centred treatment is essential to help people avoid developing more severe problems or even losing their life to alcohol, so this latest research highlights the need for urgent investment in this vital area.
Laura Mahon, Deputy Chief Executive of Alcohol Focus Scotland, said: “The drop in the level of treatment in Scotland over the last ten years is shocking and deeply concerning. Alcohol harm has remained high in Scotland over this time period, so this is not a question of whether people’s need for support has reduced, but rather that they are finding it more difficult to access the support they need.
“This drop in treatment coincides with a period when budgets for Alcohol & Drug Partnerships were cut. At the time, many of us feared that those cuts would affect service provision and it now appears that is the case. The fact that this drop in support is only now coming to light is also of real concern. The Scottish Government urgently needs to invest in alcohol treatment – as they have in drug services – and to monitor provision to ensure these vital services are maintained.
“But we can’t treat our way out of the alcohol emergency – we must also prevent problems developing in the first place – which is why we also need to renew and uprate minimum unit price to at least 65p per unit, as well as restrict alcohol marketing.”
Alcohol Focus Scotland’s analysis reveals that the number of people commencing specialist alcohol treatment dropped from a peak of 32,556 in 2013/14 to 19,617 in 2021/22, representing a 40% decline across Scotland. The analysis is based on data published by the Scottish Government, in response to a Parliamentary question by Scottish Conservative MSP, Miles Briggs, drawn from a series of reports by Public Health Scotland on National Drug and Alcohol Treatment Waiting Times. The drop in service provision pre-dates any impact of the pandemic on service provision, as figures prior to this still show a 30% decline across Scotland.
The period of decline coincides with a period when funding to Alcohol and Drugs Partnerships, who are responsible for overseeing local alcohol services, was cut by 20% from £69.2 to £53.8 million.
These concerning findings come only weeks after 36 organisations, including Alcohol Focus Scotland, called for an ‘emergency response’ to what the Scottish Government itself has recognised as the alcohol emergency. The group – involving clinicians, charities and local Alcohol and Drugs Partnerships – made a number of specific recommendations, including improving access to a range of recovery-oriented alcohol services, such as specialist services, counselling, residential and community-based rehabilitation provision, and peer-led and mutual aid options. The group also emphasised that treatment must be complemented with preventative measures such as the renewal and uprating of minimum unit price and restrictions on how alcohol is marketed.
Despite the positive effect of minimum unit pricing, which was recently found to have saved approximately 268 lives each year since it was introduced, Scotland has still seen a dramatic increase in alcohol deaths over the past few years. This significant rise in loss of life was likely caused by changing drinking habits during the pandemic, in particular among heavy drinkers, alongside reduced access to services. However, this new analysis shows that alcohol treatment was in poor shape even prior to the pandemic.
Dr Carey Lunan, GP and Chair of the Scottish Deep End Project, said “Alcohol related harms are at crisis level in Scotland. Each week 700 people are hospitalised and 24 die as a result of alcohol, and the numbers of people whose lives are dominated by alcohol-related suffering is even greater. That suffering is experienced most in our most deprived communities; those served by Deep End GPs. It is vitally important for people’s recovery that they receive support as early as possible to avert more chronic problems developing but there has been a significant reduction in the support available to people. It is essential that investment in specialist services is prioritised to ensure that they are supported earlier and to relieve future demand on our NHS. This must be accompanied by preventative action on low prices and aggressive marketing which encourage and normalise high levels of alcohol consumption.”
Wednesday 26 July 2023