National Plan to End Homelessness
The Government has published its new National Plan to End Homelessness, setting out reforms across health, housing and prevention services. This strategy sets out a long-term vision to end homelessness and rough sleeping, making sure everyone has access to a safe and secure home. The plan includes a commitment to end the practice of discharging people from hospital to the street, now recognised by the Government as a “deeply harmful outcome”.
The strategy reflects the growing recognition that safe, supported discharge is essential for people experiencing homelessness. The plan outlines steps to improve intermediate care and strengthen links between health and housing, including placing housing officers within hospital discharge teams, though further multi‑disciplinary approaches are still needed.
| Reminder of our new multi-partner project – neurodiversity We are finalising the partners to our new multi-partner Blue Light development project on identifying and addressing neurodiversity in the context of complex dependent drinking, which is a significant and growing issue. The project has already generated huge interest, with 12 partners confirmed so far. It follows the model of our award-winning Blue Light Approach and our national work on safeguarding and cognitive impairment. Each participating area will contribute £5,950 (ex VAT) to support the work and, in return, receive a package of training, consultation, and practice development. Specifically, in return for their investment, each partner will receive: Membership of the national steering group A local development workshop with professionals and people with lived experience to explore the local impact A local online survey and summary report Access to a series of national webinars, which are only open to project partners Four half-day local training sessions Presentations to relevant local partnerships This model is a cost-effective way of developing understanding and delivering training in an underexplored area. If you’d like to join the project and/or find out more, please email us at Jane.Gardiner@alcoholchange.org.uk |
| Has England’s drinking returned to “normal” after COVID? The Institute of Alcohol Studies has published an interesting piece by Dr Vera Buss looking at the changes in drinking patterns over the six years since the COVID pandemic. At the start of the crisis: Risky drinking increased by 30%. Signs of possible dependence nearly doubled, from 0.9% to 1.7%. Mean weekly alcohol consumption rose by 34%. Looking at whether drinking has returned to “normal” again, Dr Buss suggests that “Risky drinking and mean weekly consumption have begun trending back down. If current trends continue, projections suggest that England could return to pre-pandemic levels in the early 2030s.” But that: “Possible dependence…shows no clear signs of returning to its pre-pandemic trajectory. This is particularly worrying because even slight increases in the percentage of people who are alcohol-dependent can have large impacts on the health system and premature deaths.” Dr Buss goes on to explain that two conclusions are particularly notable: First, more people are drinking to levels indicative of alcohol dependence than before the pandemic. Second, the increase in alcohol consumption among socioeconomically disadvantaged groups has not fallen back, threatening to worsen existing health inequalities. This must have a significant impact on the commissioning and planning of alcohol services and wider public health interventions. |
The Dry January® challenge and its impact on public health and prevention
Alcohol Change UK has recently published a blog post on the effectiveness of the Dry January® challenge in supporting public health. It sets out how the challenge and its wider Try Dry® programme create significant long-term behaviour change, at scale, and help reduce local demand for alcohol treatment while building public support for effective population-level policies.
To learn more about the Dry January® challenge and its effectiveness as a public health alcohol intervention, read our article.
Two alcohol-related Domestic Abuse Related Death Reviews
Cumberland Community Safety Partnership have published two alcohol-related Domestic Abuse Related Death Reviews (formerly Domestic Homicide Reviews). One (“Celia”) is recent and concerns a woman with an alcohol use disorder who died by suicide while under the influence of a very high blood alcohol level. The other (“Rosa”) is older and features alcohol use disorders on the part of an abuser. Both provide evidence and support for those looking to understand the complex relationship between alcohol use and domestic abuse.
| Othering amongst heavier drinkers An article written in the journal Addiction Research and Theory by Dr James Morris (an Alcohol Change UK consultant) and colleagues, looks at “othering” amongst drinking groups, with the aim of examining how heavier drinkers characterise a ‘problematic other’ in order to justify, normalise or protect their own ‘non-problematic’ drinking identity. The article concludes that othering appears to be a key strategy in maintaining low problem recognition amongst heavier drinking groups and that this may, in turn, perpetuate stigma. |
| Final reminder – Dignity and choice Ensuring better end-of-life care for alcohol-dependent people An Alcohol Change UK online learning event Thursday 12 March 2026 10.00 to 12.20 All of us working to support people facing alcohol problems are focussed on reducing harm and promoting recovery. It is an uncomfortable truth, however, that, in some cases, recovery is unlikely and a person’s health will continue to worsen. It’s something we all need to be more prepared for, so that we can recognise when someone is dying, and respond appropriately; and so that more people can have a dignified death, in a location of their choosing, with the people they want around them. Join us on 12 March to learn more about how we can all deal with death better. We’ll be looking at how to raise end-of-life issues with people with severe alcohol dependency and their loved ones; how to make appropriate preparations for death; and how to manage alcohol use during the end-of-life period. Speakers include: – -Gill Taylor, on why poor end-of-life care hurts everyone Mary McKenna and Mark Holmes, discussing how to care for people dying of alcohol-related liver disease Gemma Yarwood, looking at what makes good end-of-life care for people who use substances Anthony Vaughan, on delivering end-of-life support in homelessness settings |
| Alcohol Change UK training We can deliver our award-winning Blue Light course, our safeguarding vulnerable dependent drinkers course and our cognitive impairment online along with a host of other courses either in-person or online, depending on your needs. If you think that would be of use to your workforce or local area, do contact us at training@alcoholchange.org.uk |