Agenda item

Report of the Director of Transformation and Partnerships – presented by Jane Sunter, Public Health Portfolio Lead, Adult and Health Services.

The Chairman introduced the Public Health Portfolio Lead, Jane Sunter who was in attendance to speak to Members in relation to the progress of recommendations following the Overview and Scrutiny Review of Alcohol and its demand on the Emergency Services (for copy see file of minutes).

The Overview and Scrutiny Officer first gave an overview of the work carried out by the Working Group that looked at the topic of Alcohol and its demand on the Emergency Services, chaired by the then Vice-Chairman of the Safer and Stronger Communities Overview and Scrutiny Committee, Councillor T Nearney.  Members were reminded that the group had looked at the links to licensing and demand and also to national work in this regard, such as minimum unit pricing.  A number of recommendations were made to Cabinet and the Safe Durham Partnership Board, as set out at Appendix 2.

The Public Health Portfolio Lead noted that when looking at the data from the Cumulative Impact Assessment there had been no link shown in terms of alcohol related incidents and the density of licensed premises.  It was explained that there was a link demonstrated in terms of alcohol related incidents and areas of deprivation.  It was explained that a direct indicator was the number of incidents of people admitted directly to hospital with an alcohol related issue, with Durham having great numbers that England, though was the fourth lowest in the region.  Members were reminded of the work with colleagues from Gateshead in terms of a “Fifth Licensing Objective”, to look at the influence in terms of alcohol related harm, this work with Gateshead and Public Health England being evaluated.

The Committee noted in respect of the second recommendation, educational events and use of a video produced by the PCVC that training was continuing to be delivered as per the work plan and the video was utilised as a training tool to raise awareness of the demands placed on emergency services.  Members noted in terms of national and annual awareness campaigns that the usual process of aligning to help maximise the use of funding would continue, with those such as the run up to the festive period and “Dry January”.

The Public Health Portfolio Lead noted a further recommendation from the Working Group was in connection to the Cardiff Model, and that as data was available, Public Health and Durham Constabulary met with the County Durham and Darlington NHS Foundation Trust in April 2017 with hospitals looking at their databases and also at a regional level, BALANCE were undertaking activities. 

It was explained that the Working Group report, with a covering letter from the Safe Durham Partnership had been shared with local MPs to help raise awareness of the issues and also the Safe Durham Partnership looked for ways to lobby for a reduction in the drink drive limit and a minimum unit price for alcohol.  The Public Health Portfolio Lead concluded by noting that in terms of sharing the Working Group report with the Local Government Association’s (LGA) Safer Communities Board (SCB) the report and a letter was sent to the Chairman of the LGA SCB.

The Chairman thanked the Public Health Portfolio Lead for the update and asked Members for their comments and questions.

Mr AJ Cooke noted a lot of good work ongoing, however asked about the challenges of tacking the cheap availability of alcohol, with supermarkets having lead-loss deals.  The Chairman noted that minimum unit pricing was something the Committee had supported, and that the issue was resisted at Government level.

Councillor D Stoker noted the recent planning approval for expansion at the University Hospital of North Durham, with there being a possibility of the loss of Accident and Emergency provision at North Tees or Darlington and asked whether therefore there was any contingency in this regard. 

The Public Health Portfolio Lead noted in terms of young people drinking, there was the police alcohol seizure pathway and therefore if there is an issue, people should continue to call the Police.  It was explained that should alcohol be seized in an area, the school attended by those individuals would be attended and a presentation made to highlight the harm that can be caused.  It was added new procurement within hospitals was for specific staff the can make referrals from within the hospitals.  Councillor D Stoker noted that his concern was that if there was an increase in “out of county” admissions in terms of alcohol harm, and other emergency admissions, would the hospital be allocated the extra resources required accordingly.  The Head of Planning and Service Strategy noted that this would be an issue looked at through the Sustainability and Transformation Plans and there would be a Joint Scrutiny exercise in September looking at all demands and therefore a meticulous piece of work needed to be carried out in this regard.

Resolved:

That the report be noted.