http://www.newcastlepartnership.org.uk/

Alcohol harm reduction strategy – Newcastle’s consultation announced

A consultation, on Newcastle’s first multi-agency strategy for reducing the harm caused by alcohol, begins this week.

The strategy aims to reduce the harm caused by alcohol to individuals, children, families and communities so that Newcastle can become a healthier and safer place to live, work and visit.

Alcohol misuse impacts across a broad range of areas including health, crime and disorder, children and young people, environment and housing. Newcastle has a higher prevalence of harmful and dependent drinkers and higher rates of alcohol-related ill health among men and women than the national average as well as one of the highest rates of binge drinking in England. We have fewer alcohol treatment services and longer waiting times in the North East than elsewhere in the country.

The consultation has been launched by the Newcastle Partnership - which is made up of representatives from Newcastle City Council, Newcastle Primary Care Trust (PCT), Northumbria Police and other public, private, community and voluntary sector organisations – with a remit to improve the quality of lives of Newcastle’s residents.

The consultation is set to be the widest-reaching ever by the Partnership with views sought from the licensing trade, retailers, students, magistrates, health workers, GPs, young people, transport operators, the voluntary sector, local partnerships, staff within key agencies including the police and the council and members of the public. The consultation has been widely distributed to the above groups. 

The strategy itself, called: Safe, Sensible and Social in Newcastle upon Tyne, has four clear objectives:

• Developing a preventative approach to alcohol misuse
• Providing services for problem drinkers and their families and carers
• Protecting the public through law and policy enforcement
• Working in partnership to prioritise the tackling of alcohol misuse

Action plans will support delivery of the strategy and set out how partners will take responsibility for making it happen. The action plans will be updated annually to ensure that we have the most up-to-date information to work with and are still targeting our energy and resources at the things that will make a difference.

Newcastle's Director of Public Health, Dr Danny Ruta, who chairs the Health Improvement Board of the Newcastle Partnership, said: “The misuse of alcohol is an issue which can affect the whole community. This consultation is seeking people's views on what action should be taken by organisations and individuals to tackle alcohol related issues in Newcastle.

“We are consulting on a range of actions and initiatives to reduce and prevent the impact of alcohol with the aim of reducing the harm to health, the harm caused by alcohol-related crime and anti-social behaviour, reducing the harm to families and young people and developing a preventative approach to alcohol misuse. These include improving information and education, promoting sensible drinking in the workplace, screening and simple structured alcohol advice and support for patients with alcohol issues by family doctors, and raising awareness of the consequences of alcohol misuse. It's really important that people and organisations give their views as we will use the responses from the consultation to strengthen the action plan."

Councillor Anita Lower, Newcastle City Council’s Executive Member for Community Safety and Regulation said:  “ We all know that when people over indulge in alcohol it has far reaching repercussions for society - that is why it is vital that the council and its partners come up with a strategy that will help us tackle the harm caused by alcohol misuse.

“There’s already a lot of good work being done by agencies across the city, but this initiative will work with the whole community to help ensure that Newcastle is a safer place to live, work and visit.

“ I would urge anyone who has opinions on alcohol to look at our draft and comment upon it as it is vital that we have a strategy that has taken into account as wide a range of views as possible.''

Barry Speker, Chair of the Newcastle Partnership, said: “The Alcohol Strategy is a significant document for the city, and is a great example of what can be achieved from partnership working.

“As well as being the Chair, I am one of the private sector representatives on the Newcastle Partnership Strategic Board; so it’s important for the growth of Newcastle business that families looking to relocate to the area see us as a ‘city of culture’, rather than just a ‘party city’.

“I would like to offer my sincere gratitude to all those involved in producing it.”

The results of a considerable amount of analysis and debate have underpinned the document; however the Newcastle Partnership wants to get the views of as wide a range of partners, groups, organisations and individuals as possible during the consultation period. We are using a number of different methods to consult, one of which is asking stakeholders to complete and return a simple questionnaire which asks a number of questions about the strategy. Responses will be carefully collated and analysed and will be used to strengthen the action plans and ensure that we have identified priorities correctly.

The consultation period will last until 31 July 2008.