Archive | July, 2015

The Evidence of Effectiveness & Standards for IBA: Hospital & Criminal Justice settings

16 Jul

Further guidance for IBA delivery has been released, outlining the evidence for IBA and minimum standards for delivery in Hospital and Criminal Justice settings.

Download: IBA hospital settings

Guidance for community health settings was also released earlier this year – full report here [pdf].

Although the documents share many of the same sections in terms of explaining IBA and the evidence base, setting specific implications and invest to save rationale are included.

  • Alcohol misuse costs the NHS £3.5 billion per annum; much of this burden is from hospital care.
  • In 2010/2011 there were 1.2 million alcohol-related hospital admissions. This equated to 7% of all hospital admissions and offers a substantial opportunity to intervene.
  • Over 14 million people are treated in ED in England each year. The Department of Health estimates that 35% of ED attendances in the UK are attributable to alcohol, increasing to 70% between midnight and 5am.
  • Almost one third of London fire deaths are alcohol related.
  • 11% of male high blood pressure is alcohol related.
  • Over 4,000 people die each year as a result of alcoholic liver disease.51
  • A National Statistics study found that 27% of people with severe and enduring mental health problems had an AUDIT score of 8 or more in the year before interview, including 14% who were classified as alcohol dependent.IBA Criminal Justice

For Criminal Justice Settings, the rationale for IBA is also convincing:

  • The prevalence of individuals with an alcohol use disorder in the criminal justice setting
    is three times greater than in the general population.
  • As many as 75% of arrestees may be risky drinkers and therefore appropriate for brief advice.
  • In 2010/2011 1.4 million people were arrested in England and Wales highlighting police custody as an effective setting to reach around 3% of the adult population annually.
  • Self-reported associations between drinking alcohol and the offence were identified in two fifths of respondents and for 50% of violent crimes.
  • 47 % of violent crime is believed to be alcohol related.
  • 45% of victims of domestic violence say their attacker had been drinking.
  • The national cost of domestic violence to criminal justice, health, social, housing and legal services as well as the economy amounts to more than £5.7 billion a year.
  • A study of arrestees and offenders who had been given brief advice and treatment in police custody or referred elsewhere identified that 40% of respondents found the advice useful.
  • 74% of probation clients in a study in South London were AUDIT-C positive

The guidance was commissioned by the Safe Sociable London Partnership, a regional body aiming to supports alcohol improvement work in London.