19 December 2023

People with lived experience from alcohol harms and health and care leaders in south east London joined a workshop to discuss the challenges and opportunities to reduce the harm from alcohol and its impact on health.

More than 50 people joined the South East London Alcohol Harms Workshop to consider the scale and impact of alcohol harms; the challenge of tackling alcohol harms in south east London; and recording alcohol status and delivery of alcohol identification and very brief advice (IBA) as part of the Vital 5.​ 

The event combined presentations from leaders across the health and social care system, insights from people with lived experience, and group discussions. ​

Focusing on prevention and early detection are the most effective ways of improving health and care outcomes. The Vital 5 initiative advocates for people, communities and organisations to make improvements to the five factors that have a major impact on health and population level: blood pressure; obesity; mental health; smoking status; and alcohol intake.

Alcohol intake

  • The overall amount of alcohol consumed per person peaked in the mid-2000s, and has steadily fallen since – especially among young people.
  • Today, the average consumption per adult is about 9.7 litres of pure alcohol per year or about 18 units a week.
  • Although heavy drinkers comprise a small proportion of the population, they make up 30% of the total alcohol sales.
  • People from low socio-economic and marginalised communities bear a disproportionate burden of negative alcohol related consequences.
  • There is a high proportion of adults with alcohol dependency that are not engaged in treatment across South East London Integrated Care System (SEL ICS). 

The South East London Alcohol Harms Workshop (youtube.com)

All the keynotes and workshops from the event are in a dedicated KHP YouTube playlist, please copy and paste the following URL into your search engine to view: https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLd-YtZ5skxS9BPVv6m0BuTbYWKY_xj5fW&feature=shared

Find out more about the Vital 5 here.