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A “staggering” 82% of dependent drinkers in England who are at risk of alcohol harm are not in treatment, despite success rates of around 60%, according to a new report by the Public Accounts Committee.
It also found that an estimated 10 million people in England regularly exceed the Chief Medical Officers’ low-risk drinking guidelines, including 1.7 million who drink at higher risk and around 600,000 who are dependent on alcohol.
The Committee said it was “surprised and disappointed” that the Department for Health and Social Care (DHSC) is not taking a more proportionate and serious approach to addressing the problem. Despite the widespread harm, there has been no alcohol-focused strategy since 2012 and the latest plans for one were abandoned in 2020.
It added that the DHSC’s understanding of the total cost of alcohol harm for the NHS and wider society is based on analysis dating back to 2012. That puts the estimate at £25 billion a year (adjusted for inflation) but the Committee is concerned that this more than decade-old analysis may not reflect the full scale of harm.
Full scale of alcohol harm
Dame Meg Hillier MP, Chair of the Committee, said: “The harms from alcohol are appalling and the benefits of every £1 spent on treatment are immediate and obvious.
“What more does DHSC need to see to act decisively on this most harmful intoxicant? In doing so it must give local authorities the certainty and stability over funding to maintain and improve the treatment programmes that are proven to work, and stop dithering over the evidence on industry reforms.”
Alcohol is linked to over 100 illnesses, can drive mental disorder, self-harm and suicide, and is a major cause of preventable death. In 2019-20 it was linked to 42% of all violent crime, up from 40% the previous year.
The Committee says DHSC must secure a consensus and act on the best available evidence on preventative measures around price, availability, and marketing. It must also address the key issues of funding uncertainty for local authorities; barriers to accessing treatment; local variations in outcomes and severe and worsening healthcare workforce shortages.
Lead PAC Member inquiry Dan Carden MP, added: “The government’s record on alcohol harm is one of policies scrapped and promises broken. Alcohol harm is a deepening public health crisis that affects us all and it is wrong and unfair to believe that it is only alcohol dependent drinkers who are affected.
“Shamefully, it has been 11 years since the last government UK Alcohol Strategy. The measures set out in the 2012 strategy were, and remain, effective evidence-led health policies that prevent death, improve public health and alleviate pressures on our public services. The abject failure to deliver on promised initiatives has certainly contributed to tragic yet preventable levels of alcohol harm felt across the UK.
“With thousands of families broken by alcohol, the highest alcohol-specific deaths on record, 84% of alcohol dependent people in need of treatment not receiving it and the enormous cost to the public purse, the government must now remove the barriers of inaction and act on the recommendations set out in this report.”
