Blog – NHS 10 Year Plan is a missed opportunity to reduce alcohol harm
The NHS 10-Year Plan was a potential moment for bold action to reduce alcohol harm. Instead, it falls short – and communities like ours in the North East will feel the consequences. A slightly longer read today with our response.
Alcohol is a Group 1 carcinogen – just like tobacco. It contributes to at least 7 types of cancer, including breast cancer and bowel cancer, is driving record-high alcohol deaths, and costs our region alone £1.5 billion a year.
Opinion is growing across the World – from the World Health Organisation to the US Surgeon General to the World Cancer Research Fund that alcohol’s link to cancer needs to be taken more seriously.
Alcohol deaths are up 42% since Covid as alcohol companies bombarded us with “drink at home” advertising – and deaths are rising faster among women. Hospital admissions from alcohol are now peaking at nearly 1m a year. This is a public health emergency.
Yes, steps like calorie and health warnings are welcome. But the Plan’s failure to embrace proven, evidence-based policies – like Minimum Unit Pricing – is a missed opportunity to protect lives, reduce inequality, and ease pressure on our overstretched health services.
We must say this clearly: the alcohol industry must not be given a seat at the policy table to influence the solutions. We’ve seen this playbook before with the tobacco industry – and it costs lives. The alcohol industry has lobbied hard against any measures that would impact their sales and profits, blaming problems on individuals, and steers towards softer, less effective policies with enticing promises. They are even in our schools, teaching children about drinking.
And take the Plan’s focus on expanding no and low alcohol as a fix. Whilst some people might find no and lows helpful – the emerging evidence is getting stronger that these products are not helping people most at risk and will not reduce the harm across society.
Another consideration is the highly publicised cross-government mission to create a Smokefree UK. If we are to end the death and disease of tobacco smoking for millions more people, we must also address alcohol, since the two often go hand in hand. Alcohol is often a trigger for smoking.
Karen Slater, a Newcastle mum of four, knows the harm first hand. A survivor of alcohol dependency, she relapsed after being bombarded with alcohol ads.
She says: “It feels an opportunity missed to act on alcohol harm and instead we’re being dictated to by billion-pound alcohol brands. We should be prioritising public health and changing the narrative around alcohol.
“Thousands of people are trying desperately hard every day not to drink. Being in recovery takes huge effort and time, and our homes should be our sanctuary. It’s not right that we are bombarded by adverts for alcohol, coming into our homes. Alcohol causes huge problems in society, but the impression advertising gives is that alcohol brings success and glamour – it never shows the darker side.
“My experience is that alcohol is a toxin that changes how I think and act. It has caused me and others immense harm. We should never minimise the harms alcohol can and does cause, so we need a major re-think on our approach to alcohol policy in this country.”
We need to take alcohol harm seriously. Public support is there – 8 in 10 people in our region agree it’s a problem.
The Government says it wants to prioritise prevention. That won’t happen unless alcohol is treated with the urgency it demands. It’s time for a full national review of alcohol harm and a serious, life-saving plan to address it.