Every patient has their own, very personal story. For many people at the more severe end of the Alcohol Use Disorder (AUD) spectrum, alcohol dependence can be chronic and relapsing, like many other long-term health conditions. At the less severe end of the spectrum, people who drink in a hazardous way can benefit from simple brief interventions delivered by healthcare professionals. People with alcohol dependence should be referred to specialist care. NICE has identified a wide range of effective treatments for harmful drinking and alcohol dependence and has published comprehensive clinical guidelines for all NHS professionals (www.nice.org.uk/guidance/cg115).

Taking a moment to understand this may help to improve longer-term outcomes and reduce re-attendance. This training will be of interest to all NHS staff who come into contact with patients – from receptionists to A&E clinicians, nurses, hospital consultants, junior doctors, hospital porters and beyond.

Alcohol related hospital admissions have doubled in the last eight years in England and nationally, alcohol related deaths have increased by 13% since 2004. People who attend hospital with alcohol problems are often not yet linked into specialist community addiction services. They may have many co-existing physical and mental problems (comorbidity) and other social support needs that prevent them from easily accessing appropriate care – often referred to as complex needs patients. The harms they suffer can be as a direct or indirect result of their alcohol problem; many serious health conditions can be caused directly by excessive alcohol consumption, and other health issues exacerbated.

The Health Innovation Network is the Academic Health Science Network (AHSN) for south London, one of 15 AHSNs across England. We work across a huge range of health and care services through each of our clinical and innovation themes, to transform care in diabetes, musculoskeletal disease, alcohol and dementia, to accelerate digital health update into the NHS, and we’re passionate about education. HIN acts as a catalyst of change – identifying, adopting and spreading innovation across the health and care system in South London.

This project was funded by a small grant made available through the HIN from Health Education England working across South London (HESL), with the purpose of funding an educational resource to dispel stigma and myths about those who misuse alcohol.