We’re campaigning for better investment in early intervention and alcohol treatment services.
Investing in prevention is key to reducing the number of people impacted by alcohol harm. But improved early intervention, and treatment services are needed to support those already experiencing harms.
Why we need better funded alcohol treatment services?
Recent figures estimate that over 80% of adults who require treatment are not receiving the help they need.
Treatment services vary greatly depending on where you are located and what local authority you live in. Local authorities are responsible for commissioning alcohol treatment services in their area using their overall Public Health Grant – a ring-fenced pot of money to be used on all public health services in the area. In recent years, local authorities have had significant cuts to public health budgets. This has created reductions in workforce, fewer specialist addiction psychiatrists, and put pressure on already overstretched services in the face of a huge unmet need for alcohol treatment.
Every 5% reduction in yearly spending on alcohol treatment is associated with an extra 60 alcohol-related hospitalisations per 100,000 people in the population.
Adequately funded treatment services can save lives and reduce pressure on the NHS, in both the short and long term.
Professor Sir Ian Gilmore, Chair of the Alcohol Health Alliance, giving evidence to the Public Accounts Committee.
What is the Alcohol Health Alliance campaigning for?
Treatment outcomes are directly linked to funding.
Alcohol treatment provides very good value for money: in England, every £1 invested in treatment is predicted to yield £3 of social return, increasing to £26 over 10 years.
Investment in treatment services can help transform the lives of thousands of people, families and communities, and ease the pressure on other frontline services.
We are calling on the government to:
- Scale up and commit to long-term funding of proven and cost-effective early interventions and treatment across the UK.
- Deliver on better coordination between alcohol treatment and other services such as mental health, domestic abuse, and housing support.
Campaign with us
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