Alcohol Health Alliance UK

The Alcohol Health Alliance is a coalition of more than 50 organisations who share an interest in reducing the damage caused to health by alcohol misuse in the UK. Members include medical bodies, charities and alcohol health campaigners such as the Royal College of Physicians, The British Liver Trust and Alcohol Concern.

Professor Sir Ian Gilmore, a professor of hepatology at the University of Liverpool and the Royal College of Physician's Special Advisor on Alcohol has chaired the Alliance since it was established in November 2007.[1]

The Alcohol Health Alliance supports 'Health First' as an evidence based alcohol strategy for the UK, and is calling on the Government to commit to the following 10 actions:[2]

  • A minimum price of at least 50p per unit of alcohol should be introduced for all alcohol sales, together with a mechanism to regularly review and revise this price.
  • At least one third of every alcohol product label should be given over to an evidence-based health warning specified by an independent regulatory body.
  • The sale of alcohol in shops should be restricted to specific times of the day and designated areas. No alcohol promotion should occur outside these areas.
  • The tax on every alcohol product should be proportionate to the volume of alcohol it contains. In order to incentivise the development and sale of lower strength products, the rate of taxation should increase with product strength.
  • Licensing legislation should be comprehensively reviewed. Licensing authorities must be empowered to tackle alcohol-related harm by controlling the total availability of alcohol in their jurisdiction.
  • All alcohol advertising and sponsorship should be prohibited. In the short term, alcohol advertising should only be permitted in newspapers and other adult press. Its content should be limited to factual information about brand, provenance and product strength.
  • An independent body should be established to regulate alcohol promotion, including product and packaging design, in the interests of public health and community safety.
  • The legal limit for blood alcohol concentration for drivers should be reduced to 50 mg/100ml.
  • All health and social care professionals should be trained to routinely provide early identification and brief alcohol advice to their clients.
  • People who need support for alcohol problems should be routinely referred to specialist alcohol services for comprehensive assessment and appropriate treatment.

The following organisations are members of the Alcohol Health Alliance:

  1. Academy of Medical Royal Colleges
  2. Action on Addiction
  3. alcoHELP
  4. Alcohol Action Ireland
  5. Alcohol Concern
  6. Alcohol Focus Scotland
  7. Balance North East
  8. Beating Bowel Cancer
  9. British Association for the Study of the Liver
  10. British Liver Trust
  11. British Medical Association
  12. British Society of Gastroenterology
  13. Centre for Mental Health
  14. College for Emergency Medicine
  15. DrinkWise North West
  16. Faculty of Dental Surgery
  17. Faculty of Occupational Medicine
  18. Faculty of Public Health
  19. Institute of Alcohol Studies
  20. Medical Council on Alcohol
  21. National Addiction Centre
  22. National Organisation for Fetal Alcohol Syndrome UK
  23. Our Life
  24. Royal College of Anaesthetists
  25. Royal College of General Practitioners
  26. Royal College of Nursing
  27. Royal College of Physicians of Ireland
  28. Royal College of Physicians London
  29. Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons, Glasgow
  30. Royal College of Psychiatrists
  31. Royal College of Surgeons of Edinburgh
  32. Royal College of Surgeons of England
  33. Royal Pharmaceutical Society
  34. Royal Society for Public Health
  35. Scottish Intercollegiate Group on Alcohol
  36. SHAAP (Scottish Health Action on Alcohol Problems)
  37. Society for the study of addiction
  38. Spinal Injuries Association
  39. Turning Point
  40. UK Centre for Alcohol and Tobacco Studies
  41. UK Health Forum

References
  1. http://www.liverpoolgastroenterology.nhs.uk/news/Professor_awarded_knighthood.asp
  2. http://www.stir.ac.uk/media/schools/management/documents/Alcoholstrategy-updated.pdf
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