Alcohol Intervention Workers from the Liverpool Primary Care Trust’s ASSIST team have helped support over 2000 people around Liverpool over the last eight months, as part of a local drive to offer free confidential alcohol advice to communities.
ASSIST is an innovative new alcohol screening and advice service established by Liverpool PCT and is designed to support positive, long term lifestyle changes around drinking by meeting with people on their own turf.
Instead of simply handing out information, the ASSIST team go into the heart of communities and work with participants to assess their drinking habit as being ‘safe’, ‘hazardous’ or ‘harmful’ via a short questionnaire, and highlight potential health risks in a non-judgemental way.
Over the last eight months the team has met with hundreds of people from a wide cross section of backgrounds.
In the lead up to Christmas this work saw the ASSIST team travel to various locations around Liverpool, in an ASSIST branded bus, stopping at supermarkets and on the high street to talk with people and give out support material such as ‘drinks spinners’ which inform people about how many alcohol units a drink contains and also how many calories are contained in different drinks.
Of those who have met with the ASSIST team:
• 1463 took further help and information away with them
• 743 took part in the questionnaire to assess their drinking habits
• 88 were classed as being ‘high risk’ drinkers, and have since taken on the ‘6 week challenge’
Chair of Liverpool PCT and alcohol champion Gideon Ben-Tovim, says: “The interest we have had from the community with this initiative has been amazing.
"People have shown genuine courage to come forward and seek advice on their drinking, and by making that initial step to be better informed, we’re able to get them talking to their families and friends about their drinking habits too.
"We have already spoken to more than two thousand people and that number is yet to rise further as the initiative continues."
"Liverpool currently has one of the highest rates of alcohol related hospital admissions for men and women in England – but with initiatives such as ASSIST, we are beginning to see real improvements in people’s long term health."
ASSIST Health Intervention Worker, Laura Black says: “People who we support have a variety of reasons for wanting to reduce their alcohol intake - some are trying to cut down as a new year’s resolution, others know they’re drinking too much, and others do it because they want a lifestyle change and want to get fit and healthy.
“We’re not here to tell people what to do or to stop drinking altogether.
"We’re educating people of the effects and helping them to make informed decisions that will improve their overall health and wellbeing.
"People must realise that if they wish to continue drinking they need to do so sensibly, otherwise there may come a time when they will have to stop altogether through poor health.”
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