Alcohol Help

People in Nottinghamshire know that excessive drinking could seriously affect their long-term health, but continue to drink more than they should, shows a recent survey.

Responding to the Home Office initiative, ‘Not in My Neighbourhood Week’, seven public surveys were held across the county between 11-17 October by the Nottinghamshire County Drug and Alcohol Action Team, to determine the extent of the knowledge local people have around alcohol, units and the impacts that it has on crime, health, families, young people and the wider community.

The face-to-face surveys were held in West Bridgford, Sutton in Ashfield, Mansfield, Arnold, Newark, Retford and Beeston. Amongst the key findings are:

* Only 31 per cent correctly identified the maximum number of recommended alcohol units a person should have on a daily basis (two-three for women; and three-four for men), and yet very few knew what an alcohol unit actually was. Some said it was half a glass of wine, others said it was two glasses (FACT: One Unit is half a 175ml glass of wine with an alcohol content of 12%)

* 95 per cent agreed that excessive drinking could seriously affect their long-term health and although 77 per cent correctly identified that the term binge drinking was considered to be drinking more than double the recommended daily alcohol unit limit, many still admitted to drinking over the recommended daily allowance. (FACT: there are 10 million people in the UK who drink double the recommended daily alcohol unit limit)

* Only 16 per cent knew the financial cost to the UK of alcohol-related crime (FACT: £7.3bn)

The survey also asked people to say ‘true or false’ to some common beliefs/misconceptions:

* "I can sober up quickly if I need to, with a cold shower/fresh air/hot coffee": The answer is FALSE, but 32% of respondents believed this to be true.

* "Your body develops a tolerance to alcohol if you drink a lot regularly, so you can safely drink more": The answer is FALSE, but 37% believed this to be true (FACT: Tolerance is a warning sign that your body has started to be affected by alcohol)

* "Alcohol makes sex better", 89% correctly stated FALSE - However, with close to 5,000 teenage pregnancies of 15 to 17 year olds across Nottinghamshire between 1998 to 2006, the role alcohol plays in this statistic cannot be accurately stated, but the link between the alcohol misuse and unprotected sex is an obvious one when your decision-making ability is affected when ‘drunk’.

The DAAT will use the results to pin point future awareness campaigns in localities, targeting young people, parents and families.

John Taylor, Strategic lead for Alcohol for the DAAT says:

"The key issue that we’ve picked up from this exercise is the lack of knowledge around ‘alcohol units’. Many people knew how many units they are recommended not to exceed on a daily basis, but not many knew what a unit actually was. The clear message for us and the Government is to sharpen up this aspect of public information that says something that people can understand and follow: One Unit is a half pint of standard beer and so on. We are not preaching that people shouldn’t drink, but to drink responsibility, not only for themselves but for their families and for their communities"

Andy Wragg, Community and Partnerships Manager for the DAAT says:

"Every month, Nottinghamshire hospitals see at least one death caused by alcohol, and the average age is falling - many are in their early to mid 20’s, whose drinking career began as young as thirteen. We all have responsibilities, so the announcement this week to make ‘drug & alcohol’ education in our schools mandatory as part of the PSHE is a tremendous step forward."

There were no specific differences of opinion expressed from one district to another.

Home Office