Alcohol Harm and Older People
Motion
made, and Question proposed, That this House do now adjourn.—
(George
Hollingbery.)
1.45 pm
Fiona Bruce (Congleton) (Con): It is a
pleasure to be here and I welcome the opportunity to speak about the very real
and damaging effects of alcohol harm on older people. I am pleased that the
Minister for Public Health, my hon. Friend the Member for Battersea (Jane
Ellison), is present and commend her for her passionate commitment to ensuring
that key public health matters, and a strong preventive health agenda, remain
high on the Government’s set of priorities for this Parliament.
I should
perhaps clarify at the outset that I am seeking not to promote further
legislation or regulation in this sphere, but to highlight the need for more
education and information to help people make positive choices about their
drinking; to enjoy it but at the same time maintain their own health and
wellbeing. We all want to live longer—and we are—but, importantly, we want to
live longer and healthier so that we can enjoy those later years. That is why
this subject is so important.
Jim Shannon (Strangford) (DUP): I thank
the hon. Lady for giving way so early in her speech—I indicated to her before
the debate that I intended to intervene. The theme that she is talking about,
which many Members of the House, including me, would agree with, is this:
everything in moderation. In other words, people should be careful about what
they take and how often they take it.
Fiona Bruce: The hon. Gentleman is absolutely
right. Although most people are able to drink in moderation and enjoy the
benefits of the socialising and relaxation often associated with drink, for many
others it comes with significant costs.
Before
proceeding any further, I ought to clarify what I mean by “older people”.
Depressingly, I am referring to those of us who are over 45. A huge amount has
been done in the past few years to tackle excessive drinking by the young, and
encouraging figures show that drinking among young people is falling. I am also
referring not so much to binge drinking, which perhaps is what we all associate
with drinking among young people, but to harmful drinking. That does not have to
mean getting wildly drunk and being hungover the next day; it can be continuous
drinking, perhaps every day of the week, which does not allow the body’s organs
to have a break from alcohol. People are often unaware that that can be
extremely harmful.
Alcohol
is a leading risk factor for death and disease in the UK; it is the leading risk
factor after smoking and obesity. As a toxin, it is the cause of many acute and
chronic diseases, and—Members might be surprised to hear this—it affects almost
every organ in the body. The relationship between alcohol and liver disease is
well known, but alcohol is also a risk factor in a number of cancers, in
cardiovascular disease and in gastro-intestinal diseases such as pancreatitis,
and of course it is also a leading cause of accident and injury. On that topic,
the all-party group on alcohol harm, which I chair, is currently conducting an
inquiry into the considerable
15 Oct 2015 : Column 549
impact of alcohol on the emergency services. I look forward to being able to
update the House on that work in due course.
Given its
associations with so many and such serious health conditions, it is unsurprising
that the impact of alcohol on NHS services is considerable. In 2012-13 there
were more than 1 million alcohol-related hospital admissions, where an
alcohol-related disease, injury or condition was the primary reason for the
admission or a secondary diagnosis. As the Minister will be aware, the costs of
this to the NHS are estimated to be at least £3.5 billion per year—on its own,
more than a third of the Treasury receipts from alcohol—yet estimates for the
wider personal, social and economic costs of alcohol vary from £21 billion to
£55 billion in England alone. We therefore have much to address.
I must
emphasise, though, that recent trends in the decline of underage drinking and
drinking among young people are encouraging, which leads me to believe that we
can similarly address and support improved positive drinking among older people.
The proportion of 11 to 15-year-olds who have ever had a drink fell from 61% in
2003 to 38% in 2014, and the proportion of those who got drunk in the past week
declined dramatically from 26% to just 8% in the same period.
Encouragingly, this positive trend is beginning to
extend to the 18 to 25-year-old age group, many of whom, interestingly, now
choose not to drink at all. That includes my own son, a young man in his 20s. He
is a sportsman who simply does not drink. A huge amount of work has been done in
this area. I commend the Government and their partnership working with many
agencies to educate and support this age group to reduce levels of harmful
drinking. One of the successes has been the introduction of street pastors.
Another has been the presence of club hosts in clubs and pubs, where people on
the “older sister” model, perhaps slightly older than those who might drink
irresponsibly, will approach a young person they think is drinking too much and
say, “Perhaps you need to think about how much you’ve drunk.”
Jim Shannon: I thank the hon. Lady for her
comment about street pastors. In the past month, street pastors have started to
be active in my constituency, with 13 churches and 43 volunteers coming together
on this. That is a very clear commitment by community members themselves to
address the issue. I recommend those in any constituency where there are no
street pastors to ask the churches to be involved, because the benefits are
great.
Fiona Bruce: I entirely agree. In my
constituency, similarly, there are some excellent street pastor groups.
Voluntary organisations, the drinks industry, publicans
and the police, together with local and national authorities, have done a huge
amount to address drinking by younger people. With older people, though, much of
their drinking is a hidden problem, particularly among the baby boomer
generation who often drink at home, many of whom have a dangerously limited
awareness of alcohol’s harmful effects. This is a ticking time bomb not just for
the individuals concerned but in terms of the public cost of their healthcare in
the years to come, with an increasingly ageing population.
15 Oct 2015 : Column 550
According to the Health Survey for England 2013, 10
million people in England drink at a higher level than the Government’s
lower-risk guidelines, with serious long-term implications for their health.
This is particularly true of older people. Many of those in the baby boomer
generation drink on an almost daily basis. The survey found that 14% of 45 to
64-year-olds drank alcohol on five or more days in the past week, compared with
just 2% of their younger counterparts in the 18 to 24-year-old group.
Alcohol-related hospital admissions among this middle-aged group account for 40%
of all alcohol-related hospital admissions and 58% of all admissions for
alcoholic liver disease. Tragically, this age group also accounts for the
majority of alcohol-related deaths.
Some of
the impacts of alcohol are rather less obvious but no less devastating. For
example, there is a significant link between alcohol use and the risk of
hypertension, which is a factor in a number of related illnesses such as stroke,
heart disease and other vascular diseases. Alcohol is generally associated with
poorer mental health. In later life, alcohol can be used as a comfort for many
of the shocks that people experience in middle age, such as adjustment to life
after divorce, redundancy, retirement, children leaving home, or bereavement.
Loneliness or depression can also be a factor. These points in life can be very
challenging, and they are all associated with higher rates of alcohol use.
People need to be made aware that when these life shocks hit them in later life,
as they do the majority of us, they need to look out to avoid slipping into
harmful drinking patterns because the consequences can be catastrophic in just a
few years.
The
majority of older people are not aware of the potential damage they are doing to
their health or relationships through unhealthy drinking. Office for National
Statistics figures show that the greatest number of people who did not drink but
now do drink are women over 65, many of whom live alone. That is a particularly
concerning statistic that we need to bear in mind. Research by charity
Drinkaware and by Ipsos MORI suggests that there is a large group of people who
are sleepwalking into poor health. Only 20% of 45 to 65-year-olds think they
will have health problems if they continue to drink as they do, yet more than a
third are drinking at above the level of Government guidelines. Shockingly, one
in nine says that they have already been told by a friend, family member or
health professional that they should cut down.
Interestingly, this issue was raised in the previous
debate—I do not think the Minister was here—when the shadow Defence Minister,
the hon. Member for North Durham (Mr Jones), spoke about needing to address it
for those who had been in our armed services, although not in a nanny-culture
way. I strongly echo that.
For
many, drinking is an everyday occurrence, but when confronted with it, people do
not realise that even drinking at relatively low levels but on a continuous—that
is, virtually daily—basis can be harmful. Here is a typical comment:
“On reflection when you look back it’s not the fact that I
drink to get drunk constantly—that would be a separate issue…but as part of the
relaxing process…on a daily basis at home. I just didn’t realise how many
excuses I have to…drink.”
Misuse
of alcohol has a devastating impact on relationships and families, and on
children in particular. That should be given greater prominence. In 2012, a
15 Oct 2015 : Column 551
survey by the Children’s Commissioner, “Silent voices: supporting children
and young people affected by parental alcohol misuse”, estimated that between
1999 and 2009 more than 700,000 children were affected by parental or other
significant adult drinking. It said that parental alcohol misuse is far more
prevalent than parental drug use and called for a greater emphasis on it in
policy and practice. It is a matter of social justice that we address this, not
just for children but for the poorest in our society, because research shows
that those who are less well-off are less resilient and more vulnerable to the
impact of harmful drinking. Professional people, some of whom drink more, are
able to withstand the impacts better.
As chair
of the all-party group on alcohol harm, I urge that greater prominence be given
to this issue, particularly to the harms caused to older people. A number of
strands could be taken forward, alongside other initiatives that I am sure the
Minister will consider. One very practical example was given in an excellent
report that I had the privilege of launching here in the House last month:
“Under Pressure” by the Treat 15 Expert Group, which comprises doctors, nurses
and other health professionals. It suggested that whenever an individual has
their blood pressure taken, mention could be made, just in those few minutes, of
drinking being linked to the risk of high blood pressure, and indicators of the
harmful health implications associated with that. It is estimated that about 7.5
million people in this country are at risk of high blood pressure. Just
identifying the link with harmful drinking could help a large number of people
to improve their health prospects. In those few moments, often when nothing else
is done or said, there is a real opportunity, at no cost at all, for the medical
profession to provide an important service.
There is
also an urgent need for public education on the harmful effects that drinking
can have on older people. People need information that is simple, accessible and
non-judgmental. There are some innovative resources, such as the Drinkaware app
and the Change4Life booze buster programme, which help people make informed
choices about their drinking and support them to make a change that could have
significant benefits for their health and wellbeing.
We also
need more prominent, comprehensive and consistent public health messages from
Government, the NHS and Public Health England about the risks of harmful
drinking. A report will be released shortly and I look forward to reading its
suggestions as to how the issue can be addressed. Given that people are living
longer, it is important that they are informed about how to live healthier
longer lives.
The
alcohol industry also has an important role to play by working in collaboration
with others. It is a key partner and has made a great deal of progress working
in partnership with pubs and clubs and with the Government. The Government
challenged the industry to remove 1 billion units from the alcohol market over
two years. In fact, 1.3 billion units were removed—the equivalent, apparently,
of the whole nation going dry for one week a year. One of the means by which
that was achieved was through providing house wines of less alcoholic strength
and smaller glasses. I also commend the industry for the fact that almost 93% of
alcohol bottles now warn women that it would be better for them to consider not
drinking during pregnancy.
15 Oct 2015 : Column 552
Jim Shannon: There has been talk in the press
over the past two weeks about the best message to give to pregnant women about
alcohol consumption. Does the hon. Lady agree—perhaps the Minister will say this
in her response to the debate—that the best message and policy would be that
pregnant women should drink no alcohol whatsoever?
Fiona Bruce: That is my personal view. Women have
suffered from mixed messages over the past 20 years and more. It would be very
helpful to have a clear message. Just six years ago, only 17.6% of products
carried a warning label about drinking in pregnancy; the figure is now 93%. I
would like it to be 100% and it would be very helpful if the Government gave a
clear message that not drinking in pregnancy is probably the wisest choice of
all for the woman and her child.
In
conclusion, I ask the Government to consider working in partnership with us to
develop strategies to reduce alcohol-related harms in older people, just as they
have done, with some success, to reduce unhealthy drinking in younger people. No
one now questions the role of Government in promoting healthy eating. The same
rule could, I hope, be undertaken in future, with similar, commendable vigour,
by the Government with regard to encouraging healthy drinking.
