read the full stories, and more, online
www.drinkanddrugsnews.com
PCC PRIORITIES
THE POLICE AND CRIME COMMISSIONER FOR
NORTH WALES, Arfon Jones, has called for the
establishment of a pilot drug consumption
room in the region in his annual report,
Looking to the future: my policing objectives.
With consumption rooms now looking likely to
be established in Glasgow (DDN, July/August,
page 4) and Dublin (DDN, September, page 5),
the Welsh Government’s advisory panel on
substance misuse is carrying out research into
the value of a facility in Wales, the results of
which will presented to public health minister
Rebecca Evans. The PCC report also advocates
decriminalisation, as most drug use ‘is recrea -
tion al and causes no harm’. Document at
modgoveng.conwy.gov.uk
CHANGE CHARTER
A REPORT FROM THE CROSS PARTY
PARLIAMENTARY GROUP on Drugs, Alcohol
and Justice has set out ten key demands for
the UK government, including prioritising
‘coordinated harm reduction strategies’ to
reduce drug and alcohol-related deaths and
identifying a single government minister
responsible for drug and alcohol policy.
Charter for change also urges the government
to ‘follow the guidance’ of the ACMD, and
joins the ACMD, National Aids Trust and other
bodies in calling for provision of drug and
alcohol services by local authorities to be
mandated (see news, facing page), with
adequate resources available for effective
treatment. Document at blenheimcdp.org.uk
SECURE SETTINGS
ADDITIONAL GUIDANCE AND TRAINING is
needed on the management of people using
NPS in secure mental health settings,
according to a PHE review. Wider clinical staff,
including those in emergency departments,
also need to be educated about the acute
mental health symptoms associated with NPS
use, says A review of new psychoactive
substances in secure mental health settings.
Available at www.gov.uk
DEATHS DOWN UNDER
AUSTRALIA HAS RECORDED ITS HIGHEST
NUMBER OF DRUG RELATED DEATHS since the
last century, with the death rate now standing
at 7.5 per 100,000 population. ‘Psycho stimu -
lants’ such as methamphetamine are now the
third most common cause of drug deaths,
according to figures from the Australian Bureau
of Statistics. Record numbers of drug-related
deaths are also being recorded in England and
Wales, Scotland and the US (DDN, September,
pages 4 and 5). Causes of death, Australia,
2016, at www.abs.gov.au
www.drinkanddrugsnews.com
LIVER DISEASE STATS MAP
OUT STARK INEQUALITIES
PEOPLE IN BLACKPOOL ARE ALMOST EIGHT TIMES MORE LIKELY
TO DIE PREMATURELY FROM LIVER DISEASE than those in South
Norfolk, according to new figures from Public Health England
(PHE).
The agency’s updated ‘liver disease atlas’ is designed to help
health professionals allocate resources more effectively and
reveals a wide variation of premature mortality rates across the
country, with less than four people per 100,000 population in the
South Norfolk clinical commissioning group area dying before
the age of 75, compared to more than 30 in Blackpool.
Liver disease now accounts for nearly 12 per cent of total
deaths among men in their 40s, with alcohol, obesity and
hepatitis C and B responsible for 90 per cent of cases. Hospital
admissions for liver cirrhosis have doubled over the last decade,
says PHE, although there are significant variations across the
regions and most of the higher rates are ‘clustered’ in the more
deprived areas. ‘People in the most deprived population fifth
who die from liver disease typically do so almost one decade
earlier than those who die from liver disease in the most affluent
population fifth,’ the document adds. Alcohol-related hospital
admissions for under-18s, however, have fallen, although PHE
stresses the importance of developing a strategy to ‘tackle the
rising burden of liver disease, especially in younger adults’.
‘Chronic liver disease is a silent killer of young adults,
creeping up and showing itself when it’s often too late,’ said
PHE’s head of clinical epidemiology, Professor Julia Verne.
‘However, around 90 per cent of liver disease is preventable. We
hope local health professionals will make the most of this rich
data source to inform how they reduce the burden of liver
disease in their areas.’
The British Liver Trust said the figures showed the UK was
facing a liver disease crisis. ‘People are dying of liver damage
younger and younger, with the average age of death now being
mid-fifties,’ said its director of communications and policy,
Vanessa Hebditch. ‘It is also becoming more and more common
for liver units to have much younger individuals waiting for a
liver transplant or dying on the wards.’ People ‘need to be
diagnosed much earlier to obtain effective care, treatment and
support as soon as possible,’ she stressed.
Atlas of variation in risk factors and healthcare for liver disease:
September 2017 at fingertips.phe.org.uk
See news focus, page 8
‘Around 90 per cent
of liver disease is
preventable. We
hope local health
professionals will
make the most of
this rich data source
to inform how they
reduce the burden
of liver disease in
their areas.’
Prof JuLiA vErnE
IT’S AN HONOUR!
Ex-Federation of Drug and Alcohol Professionals (FDAP)
chief executive CAROLE SHARMA has been awarded an
honorary degree by the University of West London for
her services to the drug treatment sector. Highly
regarded in the field, and a regular chair at DDN’s annual
service user conference, Ms Sharma has worked tirelessly
for decades to improve standards of practice and the
status of drug and alcohol workers.
October 2017 | drinkanddrugsnews | 5