Director of Public Health Annual Report 2019: Alcohol and us

A wide range of partner organisations in the public and voluntary sector in Buckinghamshire are working together to help people to reduce their drinking and get support when they need it. In 2016, these partners joined together to develop the Buckinghamshire Substance Misuse Strategy 2016-2019. This covers drugs as well as alcohol, and has four strategic priorities, which are:

1. Prevention: Develop, recommend or commission evidence based prevention initiatives and early interventions as recommended by national policy.
2. Restricting supply: Work in partnership (including but not exclusively) with licensing authorities and other statutory consultees to maximise the effective use of the Licensing Act 2003 and consider the impact of the availability of alcohol on the night time economy.
3. Building recovery: Ensure that treatment provision for substance misuse is accessible, effective, supports the individual’s recovery from addiction and reduces the likelihood of future treatment being required.
4. Supporting at risk groups: Identify and support populations who are at increased risk of harm from substance misuse and may require additional support and tailored interventions.

Partners are now working together as the Buckinghamshire Substance Misuse Group to implement the Action Plan which will deliver change on these priorities. Work which is taking place includes:

Partners have agreed a set of six campaign days each year that they will promote. These have been chosen because they either promote messages of reducing drinking at important times in the year, or are issues for which dependent drinkers are at risk. This includes:

● Dry January

● Hidden Harm campaign

● Drinking during the summer and at sporting events

● Alcohol Awareness Week 19-25 November

● White Ribbon Day 25 November

● Drinking around Christmas, including drink driving

The group is working on agreeing a set of online support resources so people can assess how much they are drinking, and learn more about alcohol dependency, including where to get support.

In September 2018, a new secondary school-based drug and alcohol prevention programme began to for schools in Buckinghamshire. During 2018/19 it is focusing on challenging the social norm among young people that ‘everyone is drinking’. During 2019/20, a health behaviour programme called Risk Avert is being offered. This is led by trained school staff and is designed for young people aged 12 and 13 in year eight who are already thinking about or taking risks, such as drinking alcohol, having unsafe sex, and smoking. Risk Avert helps them develop practical skills to manage all types of risks that they face in life. It helps them to stay safe and have better general well-being.

The adult substance misuse service called One Recovery Bucks has been working with Aylesbury College, Buckingham New University, and Buckinghamshire University to provide support for those who misuse alcohol. It trains staff to better identify people with alcohol problems and know which services to refer them to for support and how. One Recovery Bucks has been raising awareness of alcohol guidelines, and support services at events such as Fresher’s Fayres. In addition, the partner organisations on the Buckinghamshire Substance Misuse Group are now jointly working with these colleges and universities to improve information and support for students.

The Alcohol Change UK drinks checker helps people identify how much they are drinking. It provides them with advice on how to cut down their drinking. If they consent, it provides an automatic referral to local adult alcohol services, One Recovery Bucks, for specialist support.

One Recovery Bucks offers training to a wide range of organisations in Buckinghamshire on: drug and alcohol awareness, Identification and Brief Advice (IBA) and the treatment options for alcohol users, including how to refer. IBA training covers the consequences of alcohol consumption, drink driving and UK drinking guidelines, how to identify risky drinking and different levels of risk using the AUDIT C and full AUDIT tool, brief advice on how to inform and motivate people to reduce their drinking, and the treatment options for those who need support. Since April 2018, 940 professionals have been trained in drug and alcohol awareness, 59 in IBA and 82 in treatment options.

Switch Bucks started in October 2018. It supports children and young people age 10-18 years (and up to 25 years in exceptional cases) across Buckinghamshire who are experiencing substance misuse related issues, are at risk of developing problematic substance misuse, or are impacted by substance use of a parent or other family member.

The goals of Switch Bucks are to reduce risk, reduce harm, and help young people be better able to cope with the challenges they face in their lives. It offers one to one and group support, information and advice for parents and carers, general health and wellbeing support, life skills development and vocational qualifications, and supported access to local activities such as music, art and craft. The service has a presence in the town centres of High Wycombe and Aylesbury, and delivers support via community venues in Chiltern and South Buckinghamshire.

It is open five days a week from 9.30am-6.00pm. [email protected].

One Recovery Bucks is for people aged 18 or over who have substance misuse issues and/or who are affected by someone else’s substance misuse. It offers a range of interventions and support to help individuals to recover from the misuse of alcohol and drugs enabling them to be full and active citizens. These services are provided by doctors, nurses, recovery case workers, community development workers and peer mentors and coaches. The interventions include information and advice, needle exchange, detoxification, substitute prescribing, talking therapies, health and wellbeing checks, peer support, and practical support, such as access to housing, training, and finance advice.

The service also closely supports families and carers who have been directly affected by someone else’s alcohol and drug use.

The service has a presence in Aylesbury, High Wycombe, Chesham, Burnham and Buckingham and works in a number of community venues across the county to reach isolated service users. Services are available via the telephone, video conferencing and online.

One Recovery Bucks is available five days a week, including three evenings (up to 8pm on Mondays and Thursdays in High Wycombe, and Wednesdays in Aylesbury). Contact: 0300 772 9672.

When some people have successfully become abstinent from alcohol by receiving specialist support from One Recovery Bucks, their ongoing treatment can be managed by their GP, who can provide them with anti- craving drugs. Buckinghamshire County Council and One Recovery Bucks are working closely with the Clinical Commissioning Group and GPs to put in place a new agreement to enable GPs to support these people.

The new agreement will be launched during 2019, and it is hoped that around 20-30 GPs across the county will sign up to offer this service.

One Recovery Bucks provides specialist support for people caring for someone with alcohol dependency. Other support for carers is also available via Carers Bucks.

People who have mental health problems are vulnerable to alcohol misuse, and people who misuse alcohol often have mental health problems. Having a mental health problem can make treatment for alcohol more complex. Both the alcohol misuse and the mental health problem need to be considered when any treatments are being planned. For example, some medications to treat depression can make overcoming alcohol addiction more difficult. It is therefore really important that mental health services and alcohol services work closely together.

One Recovery Bucks and Switch Bucks are working closely with Oxford Health NHS Foundation Trust which provides support and treatment for people with mental health problems in Buckinghamshire. Together they are improving referral pathways and coordination of treatment to ensure people with both these conditions can access both services when they need to, and receive the support they need for their mental health problems and their alcohol use at the same time.

Alcohol misuse can have devastating impacts on families, fracturing relationships, risking family income and causing intensive pressure. One Recovery Bucks and Switch Bucks are working closely together to support families where an adult family member or a young person is misusing alcohol or drugs.

Together they take a whole family approach offering support to all members of the family who are affected. This support includes information and advice via written publications, drop in sessions, online support and a helpline, group sessions, one to one support, safeguarding information, help to form and access community networks, parenting skill interventions for service users either via groups or one to ones, and support to family members and carers who wish to train as volunteers inside the One Recovery Bucks service.

One Recovery Bucks and partners across Buckinghamshire have developed a Recovery Network. This provides people at the end of their treatment journey support to find a job or training, to join a volunteering programme, to have somewhere to live, get support to look after their health, and build their social networks via groups such as Alcoholics Anonymous, Smart Recovery, and Al-Anon Family Groups.

Trading Standards works to identify illicit alcohol sales. They work closely with businesses, making visits to increase awareness of the law around illicit alcohol sales and how they can ensure staff are not inadvertently selling alcohol illicitly, such as by educating about till prompts to ask the age of the buyer, and what to do when the buyer refuses to share their age.

Trading Standards also works closely with Thames Valley Police and Licensing Teams to share information about new sources of illicit alcohol.