“Along with serious health effects, alcohol use and misuse also impacts heavily on families, communities, culture, tourism, business, accidents and crime.
“That’s why we work closely with our partners in the local authorities and the police service to jointly tackle the causes and effects of alcohol misuse.
“In Newcastle the city’s first ever multi-agency alcohol strategy has been developed to set out how all the different agencies including the police, the PCT, the local council and the voluntary and community sectors can work together to reduce alcohol harm.
“One day training courses continue to be delivered to front-line staff from health services, voluntary sector organisations and local businesses to help them to recognise units of alcohol and the strengths of different drinks.
“We are still trying to fully understand the reasons why people in the North East drink much more heavily than other parts of the country. The current Big Drink Debate that Balance is running has been created to help us find out more about people’s attitudes to alcohol.
“We really hope that people take the time to give their views in the debate. The more people that do, the more representative the findings will be, and as a result the more informed future approaches to tackling alcohol misuse.
“By listening to what people think about alcohol we’ll get a better understanding of the issues which contribute to high levels of binge drinking and alcohol-related hospital admissions in the North East. Our aim is to promote a safe, sensible drinking culture and ensure that anyone who does have an alcohol problem is able to access the treatment and support they need.”
North East Big Drink Debate
The North East Big Drink Debate questionnaire is available online, as well as being distributed on high streets across the region over the next six weeks.
It is anonymous and asks why people do or don’t drink, how many units they consume over a typical week, where they purchase alcohol and what situations would make them reduce their consumption.
For more on the debate and to fill in an online questionnaire, go to this story on www.journallive.co.uk
