Read our 2020 to 2025 alcohol strategy

This strategy is specifically about alcohol. We also have a drugs strategy that you can read.

How we work

Both the alcohol and drugs strategies are the responsibility of the South Gloucestershire Health and Wellbeing Board.

The two documents complement each other and, where appropriate, work towards the same outcomes. We will measure and record how and if we meet these outcomes in the same way for each strategy.

There are some joint objectives that will be developed together.

How this strategy has been developed

This strategy has been developed by the South Gloucestershire Drugs and Alcohol Programme (DAP) team.

The team consulted with stakeholders from statutory and voluntary services, residents and local commissioners who work across the Bristol, North Somerset, and South Gloucestershire Clinical Commissioning Group.

It takes a life course approach.

Alcohol harm

Alcohol harm is evidence of wider issues in society. People use alcohol to help them cope with a wide range of complex difficulties.

It can cause huge problems in our communities and contribute to:

• higher crime rates
• poor health
• premature death

We know that there are some people who live in South Gloucestershire who drink in a harmful way and some who are physically dependent on alcohol.

There are some groups who are more likely to be affected by alcohol harm. These include people who:

• are older
• are from the LGBTQ community
• have a learning disability

Working in partnership

Tackling alcohol misuse is not the responsibility of just one organisation.

We will work with partnership with the:

• NHS across Bristol, North Somerset and South Gloucestershire (BNSSG)
• BNSSG Healthier Together group

We must have strong leadership and:

• communicate well across the system
• take collective responsibility
• allocate money to both prevention and treatment
• make bold decisions to help people who use alcohol to escape from their problems

We need to balance our resources so that we invest in prevention and early intervention and treat people who are already dependent on alcohol.

Those who are vulnerable and have complex need must have the support they need.

Finally, we must have clear data on who is using our services and understand the pressure on our resources so that we are transparent in the service we provide.

Learning from the Covid-19 pandemic

This strategy was developed during the coronavirus pandemic.

We have tried to incorporate what we have learnt from the pandemic while also thinking about how this strategy can work for the next 5 years.

It considers the wider context of alcohol related harm and how we deal with that after the pandemic.

The full strategy

For more information you can download and read the full strategy document.

Read the full alcohol strategy