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| Alcohol Research UK |
Researchers in the Sheffield Alcohol Research Group in ScHARR have recently been awarded two Research Innovation Grants from Alcohol Research UK. These grants are awarded to projects which take a novel approach to address alcohol-related problems and which aim to improve public knowledge on alcohol.
In a time when increasing demands are being placed on ever more stretched NHS budgets, alcohol places a substantial burden on the healthcare system, estimated at over £3.3billion each year. Alcohol is also a major driver of socioeconomic inequalities in health, which place an additional burden on society. The successful grants, which will run for 18 months, will provide new evidence to policy makers and healthcare professionals on the impact of alcohol on Primary Care and the potential of Primary Care-based interventions to alter this.
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| Duncan Gillespie |
The first project, led by Duncan Gillespie and involving researchers at the Universities of Sheffield and Nottingham, aims to quantify the burden that alcohol places on primary care in England. The project will develop methods to estimate the financial costs of Primary Care consultations, including prescribing, that occur because of alcohol consumption.
"We are developing new methods to make use of a vast dataset of primary care records in collaborations with partners at the Universities of Nottingham and Newcastle." (Duncan Gillespie)
The findings will help to engage Primary Care professionals and policy makers as stakeholders in alcohol harm reduction.
"This is an opportunity to understand the financial burden that alcohol imposes on primary care, and the actions that primary care practitioners are taking to reduce this burden." (Duncan Gillespie)
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| Colin Angus |
The second project, led by Colin Angus and involving researchers at both the Universities of Sheffield and Newcastle, will look at the extent to which Screening and Brief Interventions (SBIs) in Primary Care impact on alcohol-related inequalities in health. SBIs form a major part of NICE guidelines on the management of hazardous and harmful drinking in Primary Care, yet delivery rates remain low. This project will analyse Primary Care records together with a range of national survey data to understand how current SBI delivery and potential alternative delivery strategies are likely to impact on population health and NHS costs as well as on health inequalities. These findings will help local and national policy makers design more effective and cost-effective SBI policies and potentially reduce inequalities in health.
http://alcoholresearchuk.org/
