The Scottish Government needs to take urgent action to improve hospital care and support for people with alcohol issues, says a consensus statement from Scottish Health Action on Alcohol Problems (SHAAP), the Royal College of Nursing (RCN) Scotland and the Royal College of Psychiatrists (RCPsych) Scotland.
In a follow-up to research carried out by SHAAP two years ago, a Freedom of Information (FOI) request submitted in August found an ‘inconsistent patchwork’ of hospital support despite the country’s high level of alcohol-related hospital admissions. While some Scottish acute hospitals provided dedicated nursing teams to support people with alcohol issues, others – particularly in rural areas like Orkney and Shetland – did not. However, the evidence shows that these multi-disciplinary alcohol care teams (ACT) can improve the quality of care and reduce readmission rates, says the statement.
Just two Scottish health boards had a multidisciplinary team in their acute hospitals led by a senior clinician, while eight had arrangements ‘similar’ to an alcohol care team – such as a combined substance use team providing support for alcohol patients. Most teams only worked during the week, and only one board had a dedicated outreach team for people who regularly attended A&E for alcohol-related reasons.
‘Everyone deserves access to the same level of treatment, no matter where they live,’ said SHAAP chair Dr Alastair MacGilchrist. ‘The delivery of ACTs varies greatly across the country. While some health boards operate a seven-day service, others have none at all. It is particularly concerning that provision is often limited in smaller and more rural health boards, creating a disparity between urban and rural areas. Alcohol Care Teams are a tested, cost-effective way of getting support for people with alcohol problems so that they can reduce intake and in many cases embark on a recovery journey. Research has shown that the presence of an ACT in acute hospitals can free up resources so health professionals can see more patients, more quickly. The Scottish Government should now support health boards to improve ACTs, so every person with an alcohol problem in an acute hospital in Scotland can access the care they need.’
Although the Scottish Government declared the country’s level of alcohol harm a public health emergency four years ago, an Audit Scotland report from last year stated that it had been ‘slow to progress’ national strategies to tackle alcohol issues. The country’s ongoing drug deaths crisis was ‘shifting attention’ away from alcohol harm, it warned.
Earlier this year Public Health Scotland predicted that the number of Scots living with chronic liver disease – most cases of which are alcohol-related – would see a 54 per cent increase by 2044. While the latest alcohol-specific death figures for Scotland, released earlier this week, recorded a five-year low of 1,185 the previous year’s total was the highest since 2008.