Alcohol health campaigners have attacked the government’s long-awaited ten-year plan for the health service for its lack of ‘key policies’ to address alcohol harm. This is despite the contribution of record levels of alcohol-related ill health and deaths to the pressures on the NHS, the Alcohol Health Alliance (AHA) states.
Among the key points of Fit for the future: 10-year health plan for England are a move towards more community-based health services to ease the pressure on hospitals, an increased focus on digitalisation ‘to make the move from bricks to clicks’ and a shift from sickness to prevention. The latter includes delivery of the tobacco and vapes bill with its ambition to create a ‘smoke-free generation’ and efforts to tackle obesity through advertising restrictions and other means.
However, while the document contains plans to introduce new standards for alcohol labelling and to ‘support further growth’ in the no- and low-alcohol market, plans to tighten advertising regulations – which were previously expected to be included – are not in the final document.
There will be a mandatory requirement to bring alcohol labelling in line with existing requirements for tobacco, food and soft drinks, says the plan – ‘all of which currently have more detailed nutritional and health information on their labels than alcoholic drinks’ – to increase public awareness and allow people to make healthier choices. The government will also consult on changing the upper strength limit at which a drink can be described as ‘alcohol free’ to 0.5 per cent ABV, as well as support community-level innovations ‘where they have shown promise in reducing alcohol harm – including peer-led support groups, peer mentoring and coaching and mutual aid networks’.
However, the AHA – a coalition of more than 60 organisations – has expressed ‘deep concern’ that the majority of policies to tackle alcohol harm failed to make the final plan. The removal of measures like advertising restrictions and minimum pricing ‘raised questions’ over the influence of the drinks industry in shaping policy, it added.
While the commitment to improve labelling was a welcome step towards greater transparency for consumers there was little evidence that growing the low-alcohol and alcohol-free sector would reduce population-level consumption, said AHA chair Professor Sir Ian Gilmore. ‘The NHS 10-year plan was a unique opportunity to move from simply treating illness to genuinely preventing it,’ he stated. ‘Alcohol harm, one of the UK’s biggest preventable killers, was rightly identified as a key area for action. For a moment, it looked as though the government might finally be ready to confront the toll alcohol takes on our society. Instead, that opportunity has been squandered.’
With alcohol deaths at record highs it was ‘staggering’ that the ‘most evidence-based policies’ had been stripped from the final document, he continued. ‘This is not just a missed opportunity – it is a dereliction of duty.’
Turning Point welcomed the plan’s commitment to increased outreach – which would hopefully improve services for people with complex needs – as well as its proposed expansion of mental health A&Es, but agreed that the inclusion of measures like MUP would have helped the government go further in its commitment to prevention. Collective Voice, meanwhile, called on the government to clarify the role of charities in delivering the plan, specifically in relation to supporting people with alcohol and drug issues. ‘This must include ringfenced funding with a clear, long-term commitment to substance use treatment alongside a specific alcohol strategy, with dedicated funding, clear priorities, outcome metrics and cross-departmental governance,’ it said.
While the evidence was clear that substance use treatment delivered a good return on investment, it was not referred to at all in the plan. ‘Charities are barely mentioned, and drugs and addiction are effectively absent,’ said executive director Will Haydock. ‘The only real reference to alcohol is a commitment to improve labelling which, while necessary, will do little to narrow health inequalities and support the most vulnerable. This is a mistake. Charities are uniquely placed to deliver services for some of the most vulnerable people in our society, offering flexibility and innovation, working across professional and organisational boundaries to respond to multiple complex needs and system-wide challenges.’
Ten-year plan available here