Heartbeat: Changing drinking habits to lead a healthier lifestyle
December 5, 2018
This year’s Alcohol Awareness Week was marked with a wide range of engaging activities, hoping to change the public perception of drinking.
The alcohol team organised two events in November at Sandwell and City Hospitals, where they were able to engage with patients, visitors, and colleagues through games, quizzes, and alcohol-free drinks tasting.
Visitors were also asked to take part in surveys to learn more about their drinking habits.
Arlene Copland, Alcohol Lead Nurse, said: “We are delighted to have met many people at the events on both sites. The theme for this year’s campaign is about ‘change’, and that’s what we encourage people to do.
“In Sandwell, a staggering 40,075 people are binge drinking. Nearly 90 per cent of them are increasing the risk to their health by doing this.”
She added: “At the events we held, we offered a wide range of alcohol-free drinks. Also, we urged people to make simple pledges, such as having more alcohol-free days and not drinking more than 14 units of alcohol per week.
“We hope that patients, visitors, and colleagues learned more about the impact alcohol has on their health and wellbeing as a result of these events.”
The alcohol team was established over a year ago, but they have already seen nearly two thousand patients. Arlene said: “We have been working with our partners, CGL (Change Grow Live Birmingham) and the charity Cranstoun (based in Sandwell) to deliver a wide range of treatments to help patients reduce their alcohol intake or quit drinking completely.
“We see patients who present to the emergency departments and those who are admitted to the wards. We support them whilst they are in hospital and also in developing a treatment plan afterwards.
“We also receive referrals from GPs to see patients whose drinking is so severe, they cannot be treated by the community services.
“Since starting the service, we have prevented approximately 333 bed days, treating people on an outpatient basis which has saved the Trust around £133,000.”
Alcohol Awareness Week ran from 19 – 26 November this year.