Public Health England is working in partnership with the
Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC) and the
Scottish, Welsh and Northern Ireland governments, to produce
UK-wide clinical guidelines for alcohol treatment to provide
support for alcohol treatment practice.
There is currently no equivalent for alcohol to the UK drug misuse treatment
guidelines (the ‘orange book’), which has been vital in
establishing and maintaining good practice for drug treatment.
The proposed alcohol treatment guidelines will fill this gap.
The main aim of the guidelines is to develop a clear consensus on
good practice and help services to implement interventions for alcohol use
disorders that are recommended by the National Institute
for Health and Care Excellence (NICE).
The aim is also to promote and support consistent good practice
and improve the quality of service provision, resulting in better
outcomes.
PHE will start
this project in November 2019, and we intend to publish the
guidelines by the end of next year. We will convene a UK-wide
expert group of senior clinicians and service users and
professionals with specialist alcohol expertise who will oversee
the development of the guidelines.
The guidelines will provide:
- a detailed framework for specialist service providers to
support service delivery and staff training
- a framework for commissioners to use when designing service
specifications and checking quality
- guidance for primary and secondary health care staff
- clear guidance on managing and supporting service user
pathways, such as between hospital and community, and prisons and
community
- a reference point for national regulatory bodies when
inspecting alcohol treatment services
The NHS Long Term
Plan includes a commitment to improve
the provision of hospital- based alcohol care teams, with
some targeted funding for areas with the highest levels of need.
The clinical guidelines will be relevant to alcohol treatment
provided by hospital alcohol care teams and the pathways from
hospital into community treatment services.
PHE’s recent inquiry
into the fall in numbers of people
in alcohol treatment found there is a need for more
alcohol-related expertise among staff in substance misuse
services.
The inquiry also found that some services need to stick closer to
the evidence-based interventions for alcohol problems recommended
by NICE and
also found that there may be the need for further evidence-based
guidelines.
Rosanna O’Connor, Director of Alcohol, Drugs, Tobacco and
Justice, Public Health England said:
Alcohol misuse costs society £21.4 billion each year. Effective
alcohol treatment can help to reduce the burden that is placed
on health and social care services as well as reducing crime,
improving health, and supporting individuals and families on
the road to recovery.
We are very proud to be involved in the partnership that is
working to develop the first ever UK-wide alcohol clinical
guidelines. Our aim is that the guidelines will help to
increase the number of people in the UK receiving effective
treatment for alcohol related harm or dependence.
