Skip to main content

Time to act on price of alcohol?

Is it time to enforce minimum unit pricing for alcohol in the United Kingdom? The latest evidence provides further impetus to those campaigning to limit the sale of alcoholic drinks.

Alcohol misuse is the biggest risk factor for death, ill-health and disability among 15-49 year-olds in the UK, and the fifth biggest risk factor across all ages, and alcohol related problems are estimated to cost the NHS around £3.5 billion annually. In 2015, there were over 8,000 casualties of drink driving accidents in the UK including 220 fatalities and 1,160 serious injuries. Alcohol kills. So does price matter?

Alcohol is now 60% more affordable than it was in the 1980s, particularly because of big discounting of price in the major supermarkets.

Responding to the latest findings that almost 63,000 people in England will die over the next five years due to alcohol misuse, Professor Dame Parveen Kumar, BMA board of science chair, said:

“The BMA has repeatedly called for the introduction of minimum unit pricing across the UK – a call that is all the more urgent as 35 people a day in England are expected to die from alcohol misuse in the next five years.

“Minimum unit pricing in Canada has already seen a significant reduction in wholly alcohol related deaths. Time and again, it has been decisive, if overdue, action by successive governments, such as the public smoking ban, that has had more impact than a single doctor can have in a lifetime.

“While minimum pricing alone won’t solve all alcohol misuse problems, combined with work on education, marketing and the availability of alcohol, it will play an important role in reducing alcohol related harm and the financial burden this places on an already overstretched NHS.”

A 2008 model produced by the University of Sheffield suggested that a high enough minimum price could significantly reduce the impact and cost of alcohol to society. They also argued that drinking behaviour could be profoundly influenced by price as problem drinkers seek out the cheapest drinks.

The evidence that alcohol consumption goes down when price goes up is fairly strong, and government health advisers have concluded that ministers should introduce minimum unit pricing. In their report published last year the concluded:

“Policies that reduce the affordability of alcohol are the most effective, and cost-effective, approaches to prevention and health improvement … Implementing an MUP [minimum unit price] is a highly targeted measure which ensures any resulting price increases are passed on to the consumer, improving the health of the heaviest drinkers who experience the greatest amount of harm. MUP would have a negligible impact on moderate drinkers and the price of alcohol sold in pubs, bars and restaurants.”

The previous coalition government originally committed to implementing minimum unit pricing, but this has since been dropped. The alcohol industry and the supermarkets form a powerful lobby. But the promise to introduce minimum pricing was welcomed by Tesco because its own survey had found excessive drinking and the anti-social behaviour it causes is one of the public's most serious concerns. It was also backed by the British Liver Trust.

Then Health Secretary Andrew Lansley welcomed Tesco's "swift decision" to support introduction of MUP, saying:

"There is a vast social and financial cost attached to irresponsible drinking. We need to tackle not only issues of supply but also the behavioural drivers that lead to irresponsible behaviour".

There are of course arguments on all sides of the issue. It is a balanced choice. The consideration is whether the benefits of MUP outweigh any concerns. Some point out that alcohol is not a 'disease' of the poor, and price isn't the only factor. That is certainly true. Most adults in the UK consume alcohol and its use both influences, and is influenced by, social and cultural norms.

As a report published last year by the Centre for Public Health points out "there are no figures available to determine what proportion of the estimated 13 million adults who live in poverty overlap with the categories of problem drinkers". Nevertheless it concludes that interventions that target price are likely to have the greatest impact on national consumption and reduction in alcohol related harms.

It is no doubt one of those issues that get kicked around because of 'insufficient evidence'. This was also said repeatedly by the tobacco lobby when concern was raised about smoking and health. It took decades before effective action was taken on cigarette sales, and while that debate went on more people died necessarily from smoking related cancers and cardiovascular disease.











Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Prioritising people in nursing care.

There has been in recent years concern that care in the NHS has not been sufficiently 'patient centred', or responsive to the needs of the patient on a case basis. It has been felt in care that it as been the patient who has had to adapt to the regime of care, rather than the other way around. Putting patients at the centre of care means being responsive to their needs and supporting them through the process of health care delivery.  Patients should not become identikit sausages in a production line. The nurses body, the Nursing and Midwifery Council has responded to this challenge with a revised code of practice reflection get changes in health and social care since the previous code was published in 2008. The Code describes the professional standards of practice and behaviour for nurses and midwives. Four themes describe what nurses and midwives are expected to do: prioritise people practise effectively preserve safety, and promote professionalism and trust. The

Half measures on heat pumps

Through the "Heat and Buildings Strategy", the UK government has set out its plan to incentivise people to install low-carbon heating systems in what it calls a simple, fair, and cheap way as they come to replace their old boilers over the coming decade.  New grants of £5,000 will be available from April next year to encourage homeowners to install more efficient, low carbon heating systems – like heat pumps that do not emit carbon when used – through a new £450 million 3-year Boiler Upgrade Scheme. However, it has been widely criticised as inadequate and a strategy without a strategy.  Essentially, it will benefit those who can afford more readily to replace their boiler.   Undoubtedly, the grants will be welcome to those who plan to replace their boilers in the next three years, and it might encourage others to do so, but for too many households, it leaves them between a rock and a hard place.  There are no plans to phase out gas boilers in existing homes.  Yet, that is wha

No real commitment on climate

Actions, they say, speak louder than words.  So, when we look at the UK government's actions, we can only conclude they don't mean what they say about the environment and climate change.  Despite their claims to be leading the charge on reducing emissions, the UK government is still looking to approve new oil fields.  The Prime Minister, Boris Johnson,  has announced his support for developing the Cambo oil field and 16 other climate-destroying oil projects. Cambo is an oil field in the North Sea, west of Shetland. A company called Siccar Point has applied for a permit to drill at least 170 million barrels of oil there. If it's allowed to go ahead, it will result in the emissions equivalent of 18 coal plants running for a year.  What? Yes, 18 coal plants a year!  Today, as I write, Greenpeace is demonstrating in Downing Street against this project.  I suppose it will get the usual government dismissal and complaints about inconveniencing others.  Well, we know it won't