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1 Sep 2008 : Column 1645W—continued
Alcoholic Drinks: Misuse
David Simpson: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what NHS assistance is available for (a) treatment of people with alcohol addiction and (b) families of those people. [215001]
Dawn Primarolo: There are four different types of treatment for alcohol addiction—structured counselling, community detoxification, with support from a GP, nurse or alcohol treatment worker, specialised residential services, for those who are not able to receive or not suitable for community based treatment, and self-help groups. The effectiveness of these treatments is dependent on the degree of motivation of the individual and the severity of their addiction.
On 1 November 2005, the Department published the ‘Alcohol Needs Assessment Research Project’ (ANARP) assessment of the alcohol treatment needs in England, with a main focus on the measurement of the gap between the demand for and provision of specialist alcohol treatment services in England at a national and regional level. Copies of this publication have been already placed in the Library.
ANARP conducted their research over a period of six months between September 2004 and February 2005
and concluded that there was a large gap between the need for alcohol treatment and access to alcohol treatment.
Aside from ANARP, data on those receiving alcohol treatment have not been routinely collected. However, on 1 April 2008 the National Drug Treatment Monitoring System, which collects data on people in structured drug treatment in England, was expanded to include the collection of alcohol treatment data.
Called the National Alcohol Treatment Monitoring System (NATMS) this system will, in time, allow the Department, strategic health authorities and primary care trusts (PCTs) to monitor alcohol treatment services in England. The latest data show that during the month of April 2008 there were 44,863 people receiving structured treatment for alcohol misuse.
A new national health service indicator has been put into place to measure the change in the rate of hospital admissions for alcohol related harm from April 2008—the first ever national commitment to monitor how the NHS is tackling alcohol health harms.
This indicator is expected to encourage PCTs to invest in earlier identification of people who drink too much, linked to advice and support from GPs or other health care staff—shown to be the best way of reducing the kind of 'everyday' drinking which over time leads to liver disease and other problems, including dependency.
From 2007-08 PCTs have received an extra £15 million of additional funding to improve alcohol interventions. The National Audit Office will carry out a value for money audit of NHS spend on alcohol interventions and specialist treatment, with a report expected this autumn.
In total 76 local authorities have chosen to set a target using National Indicator 31, rate of hospital admissions per 100,000 for alcohol related harm, of the National Indicator Set, as part of their local area agreement. The National Indicator Set allows progress against national priorities, agreed by Government, to be measured and strengthens the incentives for improved and closer partnership working.
Tim Loughton: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many people who were (a) under 14, (b) 14 to 16 and (c) 17 to 18 years old died from alcohol-related causes in each of the last 10 years, broken down by (i) strategic health authority and (ii) primary care trust area. [218379]
Mr. Watson: I have been asked to reply.
The information requested falls within the responsibility of the UK Statistics Authority. I have asked the Authority to reply.
Letter from Karen Dunnell, dated July 2008:
As National Statistician, I have been asked to reply to your recent question asking how many people who were (a) under 14, (b) 14 to 16 and (c) 17 to 18 years old died from alcohol-related causes in each of the last 10 years, broken down by (i) strategic health authority and (ii) primary care trust area. (218379)
The tables attached provide the number of deaths with an alcohol-related underlying cause in persons aged (a) under 14 years (table 1), (b) 14 to 16 (table 2) and (c) 17 to 18 (table 3) in strategic health authorities in England, for 1997 to 2006 (the latest year available). Figures for alcohol-related deaths in these age groups are not available for primary care trust areas.
| Table 1: Number of deaths with an alcohol-related underlying cause( 1) , persons aged under 14 years, strategic health authorities( 2) , England, 1997 to 2006( 3) | ||||||||||
| Deaths (persons) | ||||||||||
| Strategic health authority | 1997 | 1998 | 1999 | 2000 | 2001 | 2002 | 2003 | 2004 | 2005 | 2006 |
| Table 2: Number of deaths with an alcohol-related underlying cause( 1) , persons aged 14-to-16 years, strategic health authorities( 2) , England 1997 to 2006( 3) | ||||||||||
| Deaths (persons) | ||||||||||
| Strategic health authority | 1997 | 1998 | 1999 | 2000 | 2001 | 2002 | 2003 | 2004 | 2005 | 2006 |
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