Patients face alcohol quiz as GPs chase counselling target

Published on Monday 15 June 2009 10:02

DOCTORS are set to grill 100,000 Lothians patients over the next two years on drinking habits – in order to meet targets on counselling alcoholics.

GPs will be told to ask a range of patients about how much they drink as part of routine surgery visits, as NHS Lothian is expected to find 24,000 people to be subjected to "interventions" in two years' time – ten times the number currently receiving counselling.

It is understood that anyone who attends for a GP appointment displaying some health concerns – such as weight gain – which could be attributed to alcohol, even as a secondary cause, will be quizzed.

The proposals were welcomed today by alcohol charities, but politicians and patients' representatives have warned that "interrogating" or pressurising patients could drive them away.

Conservative health spokeswoman, MSP Mary Scanlon, said: "There are many ways of tackling the high level of alcohol consumption in Scotland, but I think to put the onus on a doctor to interrogate patients is not the right way forward.

If patients were to get nagged or interrogated every time they went to the doctor, that may actually have the opposite effect."

Margaret Watt, chairwoman of Scotland Patients Association, said the move is on the "right track", but added: "Patients have their human rights and it's up to the patients whether they want to answer the questions."

Health chiefs said they were recruiting for a health promotion specialist to oversee the interventions while a training programme for nurses is being developed.

As part of NHS Scotland goals, it is then hoped beyond 2011 around 12,000 people a year will be subject to the voluntary measures – which initially includes one-to-one counselling but can then move into stricter treatments if necessary.

Tom Gard, a spokesman for UK Advocates, a lobbying group on how to deal with the alcohol problem, said screening should be the first of many steps the Scottish Government takes.

"Anything like this is welcome but it has to be followed up properly," he said. "If someone's dependency on alcohol is causing them real problems then treatment has to begin immediately and the true level can only be discovered by a liver test."

NHS Lothian board members were told: "We are currently on target to achieve 2,359 brief interventions in 2008-9."

Reams of statistics lay bare Lothian's battle with alcohol. More than 100 cases of alcohol poisoning every month are treated at the area's hospitals, while children as young as 12 are being given counselling for alcoholism. In all, the alcohol abuse problem costs NHS Lothian 6.3 million a year.

Conservative councillor Alastair Paisley, who sits on the city's licensing board, said: "Perhaps those who do have a problem will be a bit hesitant and embarrassed, but generally speaking testing is good."