Emergency Medicine

Up to 35% of all A&E attendance and ambulance costs may be alcohol-related.

Up to 70% of A&E attendances at peak times on the weekends (between midnight and 5am) may be alcohol-related.

Figs from NHS Care and Alcohol , DH 2008

Local Resources

Identification and Brief Advice Tools

• Paddington Alcohol Test PAT 2011
  The PAT is an evolving pragmatic clinical tool (Patton et al, 2004; 2005) that detects alcohol misuse early on in a drinker's natural history and acts to implant the relationship between A&E attendance...
• FAST
  Fast Alcohol Screening Test (FAST) contains 3 additional questions to the SASQ. This version also covers the remaining six questions from the audit.

Other IBA Tools

• View the full IBA toolkit
• PAT Videos - Three videos are available to view online or download. These give background to the PAT, demo of the PAT in action and a number of role play scenarios set in A&E.
• Hospital Alcohol Liaison Discussion Forum - set up for nurses, and other workers, involved with Alcohol Health Work in hospitals; to discuss protocols, research and methods to establish and improve your service.

Local Protocols and Case Studies

We have many examples of local inniatives in English Hospitals and A&E departments on our Projects page. You can browse or search for projects by keyword, or Alcohol Health Worker (Project Type) and Project Setting (Accident and Emergency/ Hospitals)

"Every hospital worker has a responsibility to help reduce unscheduled re-attendances to hospital. A classic example being alcohol misuse where patients themselves need to have significant insight into cause and effect"

[Robin Touquet Prof Emergency Medicine, Imperial College, 2008]

St Mary's Hospital / Imperial College Healthcare NHS Trust London

View the full St Mary's Alcohol Health Work Project

• Alcohol Health Work and Screening
  These presentations provide an overview of the role of alcohol health work at St Mary's Hospital. They includes local data on A&E PAT alcohol-related attendance (2005-2007), info on identification...
• Imperial College Healthcare Hospital In-Patient Alcohol Full Guidelines
  Imperial College full Alcohol Guidelines include information on the detection of alcohol misuse & dependence, alcohol health work referral process, alcohol withdrawal syndrome and Ward-based prescribing....
• St Mary's A&E Identification and Brief Advice Patient Assessment
  IBA Assessment Form used by Alcohol Health Workers at St Mary's Hospital Paddington. Questions covered include IBA, social (eg housing, relationships etc), legal, withdrawal etc.
• Coping with Alcohol Withdrawal and Detoxification Leaflets
  These leaflets were produced by the Central and North West London NHS Foundation Trust Addictions Services to provide Alcohol Health workers and staff with patient information guidance around withdrawal...

Royal Liverpool and Broadgreen University Hospitals

Liverpool Alcohol Services Lifestyle Team Project

• Liverpool Brief Intervention Policy
  This policy covers the rationale, process, patient benefits, guidelines, competencies and the identification tool (AUDIT) and drinks diary template.
• Liverpool Early Discharge Clinical Protocol
  This protocol relates to those patients who require pharmacological support for the management of alcohol withdrawal and who have no medical or psychiatric illness that would otherwise necessitate continued...