Northern Ireland Department of Health Seeks Opinions on Alcohol Consumption

The Department of Health is seeking views of the public on alcohol and drug misuse and what can be done to address the issue. Do you have any views? 

As part of a pre-consultation exercise, the public are asked to submit their views which may help inform the detail of any future policy direction for reducing alcohol and drug related harm.

Speaking about the questionnaire, Richard Pengelly, Permanent Secretary said: “I want to start the conversation about what a new or improved substance strategy might look like. The pre-consultation exercise gives the public the opportunity to have their say on the vision, focus and priorities of a strategy and to directly inform future developments in policy and practice."

On the recent review of the current strategy, Mr Pengelly said: “The review pointed to some encouraging signs. There has been significant reductions in binge drinking and the number of young people who drink and get drunk. Drug misuse among young people has also fallen significantly. However, substance misuse is still an ongoing problem which is reflected in the tragic alcohol and drug related deaths we are still seeing.”

In conclusion, the Chief Medical Officer for Northern Ireland, Dr Michael McBride, said: “The misuse of prescription medicines, and the high risk associated with polydrug misuse, which is using more than one drug – including alcohol – at the same time, is still having a huge impact on our society. We need to look for new and innovative ideas and we want to have a wider conversation about substance misuse in society. I therefore encourage everyone with an interest to have their say and help inform the future direction of any new substance misuse strategy for Northern Ireland.”

As well as the online consultation, the Department is hosting a series of pre-consultation events and one-to-one meetings. Further details on these will follow in due course.

ABC Note: The questionnaire is available on the DoH website at https://www.health-ni.gov.uk/consultations/nsd-pre-consultation

More alcohol-related health problems are found among people with a low socioeconomic status compared to those with high socioeconomic status, even though these two groups drink similar amounts of alcohol. In this overview, of what is known as ‘the alcohol harm paradox’. People who drink on low incomes excesise less and eat poor diets. 

Drinkaware explain - Reasons for the Alcohol Harm Paradox

Drinking and other unhealthy behaviours

Drinking combined with other health-challenging behaviours, such as smoking or having a poor diet, has been found to multiply your risk of developing conditions like alcoholic liver disease and some cancers, compared to doing them separately or not at all. In 2016, a paper came out that showed how less affluent drinkers are more likely to do more health-challenging behaviours at the same time, compared to their more affluent counterparts. This multiplied risk might explain the difference in harm, despite the different groups drinking similar amounts.

Consumption patterns

Another explanation could be that people living in less well-off areas drink alcohol in more harmful ways, for example, binge drinking. Less affluent people tend to be more likely to drink lots of alcohol in one session (‘binge drinking’, defined as 8 units or more for men and 6 units or more for women4) compared to lighter drinking over several sessions. This might explain the findings that they suffer more injury from alcohol than more affluent people.

Access to health-care resources

People with a lower socioeconomic status have to deal with more barriers in accessing health services than people with a higher socioeconomic status, for example transport costs and being on waiting lists (not affording quick access through private healthcare). On top of that, stigma around alcohol dependence seems to be particularly high for less affluent people. Together, these barriers mean that less affluent drinkers are less likely to receive, or look for, professional help with alcohol-related diseases and disorders.

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