NHS Scotland performance against LDP standards

LDP Standard

NHS Boards to sustain and embed alcohol brief interventions in 3 priority settings (primary care, A&E, antenatal) and broaden delivery in wider settings.

Current national performance

In the year ending March 2020, NHS Boards carried out 75,616 interventions, exceeding the Standard of 61,081.

About this LDP standard

This standard helps tackle hazardous and harmful drinking, which contributes significantly to Scotland's morbidity, mortality and social harm. Latest data suggests that alcohol-related hospital admissions have quadrupled since the early 1980s and mortality has doubled. The cost of alcohol misuse to the Scottish economy is estimated at between £2.47 billion and £4.64 billion per annum (with a mid-point of £3.56 billion).

Brief interventions have been proven to be a highly effective and evidenced-based early intervention for those individuals (for those currently over the age of 16) who are drinking at hazardous and harmful levels to moderate their level of drinking and thereby reducing their risk of developing more serious alcohol-related problems. Brief interventions provide an important opportunity to highlight potentially harmful behaviours and provide individuals with the tools to make informed choices about how they drink and reduce the risk to their health.

Given the momentum and national profile established in Scotland, we would expect high levels of ABI delivery to be maintained and should remain a core component of local strategies to reduce alcohol-related harm. The establishment of the ABI LDP Standard accords with the long-held vision that ABIs should be embedded in routine practice and allows for diversification across a wider range of settings, in line with the ABI LDP Standard guidance, to develop the evidence base.

Performance against this standard

The standard is that NHS Boards and their Alcohol and Drug Partnership (ADP) partners should maintain the same total level of target delivery of ABIs as under the HEAT H4 target for 2011-12 (i.e. 61,081 ABIs nationally). It is expected that at least 80% of delivery (i.e. a minimum of 48,865 ABIs) will continue to be in the priority settings.

For financial year 2019/20, 75,616 interventions were delivered, equivalent to 124% of standard. Of these, 50,833 were delivered in the 3 priority settings, equivalent to 83% of priority standard.

The graph below shows national performance on the ABI standard since 2011/12.

NHS Board level performance is shown for the most recent time period in the table below.

The table below shows the number of alcohol brief interventions, by NHS Board, for financial year 2019/20.

NHS Board	Number of interventions delivered 2019/20	Standard 2019/20
NHS AYRSHIRE & ARRAN	6,451	4,275
NHS BORDERS	1,381	1,312
NHS DUMFRIES & GALLOWAY	896	1,743
NHS FIFE	5,048	4,187
NHS FORTH VALLEY	9,030	3,410
NHS GRAMPIAN	10,066	6,658
NHS GREATER GLASGOW & CLYDE	10,888	13,085
NHS HIGHLAND	5,097	3,688
NHS LANARKSHIRE	11,263	7,381
NHS LOTHIAN	11,933	9,757
NHS ORKNEY	437	249
NHS SHETLAND	80	261
NHS TAYSIDE	2,833	4,758
NHS WESTERN ISLES	213	317
NHSSCOTLAND	75,616	61,081

Source: ISD Scotland, Alcohol Brief Interventions 2019/20

Further information

Alcohol Brief Interventions (ABI) Local Delivery Plan (LDP) standard

Alcohol brief Intervention Communications and Guidance

Changing Scotland's Relationship with Alcohol: A Framework for Action (webarchive.org.uk)

Changing Scotland's Relationship with Alcohol - A Framework for Action Progress Report

Alcohol Brief Interventions Statistics  

Scottish Government Alcohol and drugs 

Alcohol/drug problem numbers in Scotland

Scottish Health Survey 

 

Related National Outcomes 

• We are healthy and active
• We live in communities that are inclusive, empowered, resilient and safe
• We grow up loved, safe and respected so that we realise our full potential

Pag updated: 22 June 2021.