Wes Streeting warned alcohol measures ‘are not sufficient' to stop harm
The Government recently set out plans to improve the health of people in England over the next decade.
But in a letter to Health Secretary Wes Streeting, shared with the PA news agency, experts said that the public 'want and deserve' more action to tackle the harms.
'As experts from across alcohol policy, health and treatment, we urge you to revisit the current approach to tackling alcohol harm and commit to an ambitious, evidence-based strategy that reflects the scale of the current crisis,' the letter states.
'The 10-Year health plan for England offered a once-in-a-generation opportunity to shift gear and deliver genuine preventative action that would reverse the rising rates of alcohol-related hospitalisations and deaths we have seen in recent years.
'While the introduction of mandatory alcohol labelling and increased support for community-led schemes is welcome, these measures alone are not sufficient to address the scale and complexity of harm.'
The letter has been signed by 34 health leaders from leading health organisations including the Alcohol Health Alliance; the Royal College of Physicians; the Royal College of General Practitioners and the Royal College of Emergency Medicine.
The 10 Year Health Plan for England, which was published last month, sets out plans to tackle harmful drinking through alcohol labelling, which will include health warning messages.
The document also sets out proposed changes to no and low (NoLo) alcohol products and pledged support for community-led schemes to reduce alcohol harm.
Before the 10 Year Plan was released there was speculation over whether the plan would include a ban on alcohol advertising.
It was also reported that ministers were exploring the possibility of minimum unit pricing (MUP), a policy which sets the lowest price an alcoholic drink can be sold for.
In the new letter, experts have called for a series of measures to tackle alcohol harms, including:
– A call for the introduction of MUP in England, as seen in Scotland and Wales.
Minimum unit pricing for alcohol was associated with a 13% decrease in deaths from alcohol consumption in Scotland, according to a new study.
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— The Lancet (@TheLancet) April 21, 2023
– Giving local authorities the power to regulate hours of sale and online deliveries of alcohol.
– For advertising regulations for alcohol to be 'aligned' with those for foods high in fat, salt and sugar.
– A change to alcohol tax, linking duties to inflation and ending 'cider exceptionalism'.
– More funding and support for local alcohol care teams.
The group stresses that 'alcohol is not just the problem of a few'.
It points out that every year alcohol contributes to more than a million hospital admissions.
And the experts said that across the UK, 30% of the adult population engage in 'risky drinking', and almost one in 25 of all new cancers are estimated to be linked to alcohol.
The 10 Year Plan states: 'While many people enjoy a drink in moderation, 4% of people drink as much as 30% of alcohol consumed each year.'
But it adds that the estimated total 'societal cost' of alcohol harm in England was £27.4 billion per year in 2021/22.
The authors conclude: 'The public want and deserve action, and we stand ready to work with Government to deliver real progress.
'By taking meaningful and co-ordinated action now, the burden of alcohol harm can fall significantly within the term of this Government, with visible results for families, the NHS, crime, and the economy.'
The Department of Health and Social Care said it will continue to consider the most effective interventions to reduce alcohol harms.
A spokesperson said: 'As we shift from sickness to prevention through our 10-Year Health Plan, we will make it mandatory for alcoholic drinks to display health warnings and nutritional information.
'To improve drug and alcohol treatment services and recovery support in England, the Government has also provided an additional £310 million in 2025/26, on top of the public health grant.'
A spokesperson for the Portman Group said: 'Whilst overall alcohol consumption and harms such as binge drinking, underage drinking and anti-social behaviour continue to fall, and the vast majority of people drink within the chief medical officer's low-risk guidance or not at all, we share concerns around rising deaths and those who continue to drink to harmful levels.
'We support further targeted and tailored measures aimed at this group to manage the complex, often interrelated issues underlying harmful consumption and back calls for the further rollout of alcohol care teams and greater integration of care pathways.
'As the alcohol industry regulatory body for marketing, we welcome the chance to work constructively with the Government on the proposals within its 10 year plan to help more consumers make an informed choice and drink moderately.'
– Other signatories on the letter include representatives from: the Institute of Alcohol Studies; Alcohol Change UK; the Royal College of Surgeons of England; the Royal Society for Public Health; the British Society of Gastroenterology; World Cancer Research Fund; the Association of Anaesthetists; the Association of Directors of Public Health; the British Association for the Study of the Liver; the Medical Council on Alcohol and the British Medical Association.
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South Wales Guardian
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Conor O'Rourke, now three, was diagnosed with vein of galen malformation (VOGM) as a baby after a doctor raised concerns about the size of his head at an appointment for an unrelated issue. The condition causes the veins and arteries in the brain to connect abnormally, increasing blood flow and leading to severe complications such as heart failure and brain damage, and death if undetected. The toddler from Bolton is one of a rare subgroup of patients with VOGM which left him essentially untreatable. Specialists at Alder Hey Children's Hospital in Liverpool performed the novel technique, which involved open surgery deemed 'high risk', in March. Conor, who has since recovered well, would have deteriorated neurologically over a year or two without the operation, according to specialists. His surgeon told the PA news agency the boy is now considered '99% cured' and has become a 'different child'. Conor was around eight or nine months old when his mum Lucy O'Rourke, 36, took him to an appointment with a consultant over an issue with his belly button. However, while there, the doctor raised concerns about the size of her baby's head. Conor was eventually diagnosed with VOGM in March 2023, which his mum said was 'terrifying'. The condition causes arteries to connect directly to the vein of galen – a deep vein in the brain that drains blood from the brain back to the heart – rather than connecting to capillaries, which would slow down blood flow. It affects roughly 10 to 12 babies in the UK every year. Mrs O'Rourke told PA: 'I genuinely felt like I was living in a nightmare, and I felt like there was going to be a point where somebody was going to phone me and say, 'sorry, we've mixed up the scans, this isn't your child, we've got it wrong', and we just felt completely helpless in that moment in time. 'We just cried and sat in silence for hours. We just didn't know what to do with ourselves.' The treatment for VOGM involves inserting a small, flexible tube called a catheter into the arteries, usually from the groin. Medics use X-ray imaging to guide the tube through the body and into place, and then inject a glue-like substance to block off the artery. In some cases, the same procedure can be performed by inserting the catheter into the veins. Conor had three of these operations in 2023. Conor Mallucci, a consultant paediatric neurosurgeon at Alder Hey, told PA: 'Conor had already had those procedures, both from the artery and the vein, but after a while, in a rare subgroup of these patients, the veins block off and you can no longer get to the malformation. 'And you can't get up there through the artery either, and so you're left with an untreatable malformation that's still supplying abnormal blood to the veins.' When this happens, the jugular veins – a set of major blood vessels in the neck – block off. 'That's rare to this condition, but it's specific to this condition,' Mr Mallucci said. 'And when the jugular veins block off, which happened in Conor, the veins from the brain try and drain elsewhere. 'In his case, he had all these abnormal channels draining to his brain stem and spinal cord. And that results in swelling and damage, which is why he was deteriorating over time.' Mrs O'Rourke told PA her son suffered a small stroke after his third operation in November 2023. Around a year later, and after physiotherapy, the toddler's family were told he was not in a position for more operations and they would scan him in 12 months' time. While his parents were initially 'so happy' to have a year with no scans, they soon noticed their son was struggling. Mrs O'Rourke said: 'In early December, I started to notice that physically he was struggling, and he was limping quite a bit on his left leg.' Mr Mallucci said, by this point, Conor was essentially 'untreatable' and had 'run out of all his options'. 'It's a fight against time, and that happened quite early in Conor, which is why we had to come up with this alternative route,' he added. 'You couldn't get into his head through the veins, because the jugular veins have blocked off, and you can't block off through the artery any more. 'So that's when we came up with our technique, which is to access the veins through open surgery beyond the blockage.' The operation involved accessing the malformation through the skull to target the affected blood vessels. Alder Hey is one of only two centres in the UK equipped to carry out this procedure on children. The hospital has a state-of-the-art theatre with advanced imaging machinery, giving specialists real-time X-ray pictures of blood vessels during operations and allowing them to combine endovascular and open surgery. The technique has never been performed at another hospital. Mr Mallucci told PA: 'Exposing these veins that were blocked at the jugular level is high risk. 'You lose blood. It's a big operation, and to put a needle directly into one of those is a little bit hair raising, so we had to be very careful about that.' Medics told Mrs O'Rourke her son would very tired after surgery and was expected to sleep for around a week and remain in hospital for up to six weeks. However, Conor woke up soon after the operation asking for chips and the family were home after 10 days. Mrs O'Rourke said: 'I obviously went into mum mode and said 'can we get some chips in here please?' Speaking of Conor's recovery, Mr Mallucci said: 'He's not only recovered well, everything that he had going bad was reversed. 'He's become a different child, really, it's like he's suddenly been released.' Mr Mallucci told PA Conor is considered '99% cured' and will not need any more operations. Instead, he will have annual scans to monitor his brain and potentially have an angiogram – when a dye is injected into the bloodstream to allow doctors to capture images of blood vessels using X-ray – in around four to five years. Mrs O'Rourke said: 'No surgery now – unless we get broken arms or legs – but with something like that, we're kind of like 'bring it on'. 'As long as it's not more brain surgery, then we'll probably be able to cope with that.' Specialists at Alder Hey have performed the new technique on two patients, including Conor, and have a third lined up.
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35 minutes ago
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Surgeons use new technique to save life of little boy with rare condition
Conor O'Rourke, now three, was diagnosed with vein of galen malformation (VOGM) as a baby after a doctor raised concerns about the size of his head at an appointment for an unrelated issue. The condition causes the veins and arteries in the brain to connect abnormally, increasing blood flow and leading to severe complications such as heart failure and brain damage, and death if undetected. The toddler from Bolton is one of a rare subgroup of patients with VOGM which left him essentially untreatable. Specialists at Alder Hey Children's Hospital in Liverpool performed the novel technique, which involved open surgery deemed 'high risk', in March. Conor, who has since recovered well, would have deteriorated neurologically over a year or two without the operation, according to specialists. His surgeon told the PA news agency the boy is now considered '99% cured' and has become a 'different child'. Conor was around eight or nine months old when his mum Lucy O'Rourke, 36, took him to an appointment with a consultant over an issue with his belly button. However, while there, the doctor raised concerns about the size of her baby's head. Conor was eventually diagnosed with VOGM in March 2023, which his mum said was 'terrifying'. The condition causes arteries to connect directly to the vein of galen – a deep vein in the brain that drains blood from the brain back to the heart – rather than connecting to capillaries, which would slow down blood flow. It affects roughly 10 to 12 babies in the UK every year. Mrs O'Rourke told PA: 'I genuinely felt like I was living in a nightmare, and I felt like there was going to be a point where somebody was going to phone me and say, 'sorry, we've mixed up the scans, this isn't your child, we've got it wrong', and we just felt completely helpless in that moment in time. 'We just cried and sat in silence for hours. We just didn't know what to do with ourselves.' The treatment for VOGM involves inserting a small, flexible tube called a catheter into the arteries, usually from the groin. Medics use X-ray imaging to guide the tube through the body and into place, and then inject a glue-like substance to block off the artery. In some cases, the same procedure can be performed by inserting the catheter into the veins. Conor had three of these operations in 2023. Conor Mallucci, a consultant paediatric neurosurgeon at Alder Hey, told PA: 'Conor had already had those procedures, both from the artery and the vein, but after a while, in a rare subgroup of these patients, the veins block off and you can no longer get to the malformation. 'And you can't get up there through the artery either, and so you're left with an untreatable malformation that's still supplying abnormal blood to the veins.' When this happens, the jugular veins – a set of major blood vessels in the neck – block off. 'That's rare to this condition, but it's specific to this condition,' Mr Mallucci said. 'And when the jugular veins block off, which happened in Conor, the veins from the brain try and drain elsewhere. 'In his case, he had all these abnormal channels draining to his brain stem and spinal cord. And that results in swelling and damage, which is why he was deteriorating over time.' Mrs O'Rourke told PA her son suffered a small stroke after his third operation in November 2023. Around a year later, and after physiotherapy, the toddler's family were told he was not in a position for more operations and they would scan him in 12 months' time. While his parents were initially 'so happy' to have a year with no scans, they soon noticed their son was struggling. Mrs O'Rourke said: 'In early December, I started to notice that physically he was struggling, and he was limping quite a bit on his left leg.' Mr Mallucci said, by this point, Conor was essentially 'untreatable' and had 'run out of all his options'. 'It's a fight against time, and that happened quite early in Conor, which is why we had to come up with this alternative route,' he added. 'You couldn't get into his head through the veins, because the jugular veins have blocked off, and you can't block off through the artery any more. 'So that's when we came up with our technique, which is to access the veins through open surgery beyond the blockage.' The operation involved accessing the malformation through the skull to target the affected blood vessels. Alder Hey is one of only two centres in the UK equipped to carry out this procedure on children. The hospital has a state-of-the-art theatre with advanced imaging machinery, giving specialists real-time X-ray pictures of blood vessels during operations and allowing them to combine endovascular and open surgery. The technique has never been performed at another hospital. Mr Mallucci told PA: 'Exposing these veins that were blocked at the jugular level is high risk. 'You lose blood. It's a big operation, and to put a needle directly into one of those is a little bit hair raising, so we had to be very careful about that.' Medics told Mrs O'Rourke her son would very tired after surgery and was expected to sleep for around a week and remain in hospital for up to six weeks. However, Conor woke up soon after the operation asking for chips and the family were home after 10 days. Mrs O'Rourke said: 'I obviously went into mum mode and said 'can we get some chips in here please?' Speaking of Conor's recovery, Mr Mallucci said: 'He's not only recovered well, everything that he had going bad was reversed. 'He's become a different child, really, it's like he's suddenly been released.' Mr Mallucci told PA Conor is considered '99% cured' and will not need any more operations. Instead, he will have annual scans to monitor his brain and potentially have an angiogram – when a dye is injected into the bloodstream to allow doctors to capture images of blood vessels using X-ray – in around four to five years. Mrs O'Rourke said: 'No surgery now – unless we get broken arms or legs – but with something like that, we're kind of like 'bring it on'. 'As long as it's not more brain surgery, then we'll probably be able to cope with that.' Specialists at Alder Hey have performed the new technique on two patients, including Conor, and have a third lined up.
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38 minutes ago
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Surgeons use new technique to save life of little boy with rare condition
Conor O'Rourke, now three, was diagnosed with vein of galen malformation (VOGM) as a baby after a doctor raised concerns about the size of his head at an appointment for an unrelated issue. The condition causes the veins and arteries in the brain to connect abnormally, increasing blood flow and leading to severe complications such as heart failure and brain damage, and death if undetected. The toddler from Bolton is one of a rare subgroup of patients with VOGM which left him essentially untreatable. Specialists at Alder Hey Children's Hospital in Liverpool performed the novel technique, which involved open surgery deemed 'high risk', in March. Conor, who has since recovered well, would have deteriorated neurologically over a year or two without the operation, according to specialists. His surgeon told the PA news agency the boy is now considered '99% cured' and has become a 'different child'. Conor was around eight or nine months old when his mum Lucy O'Rourke, 36, took him to an appointment with a consultant over an issue with his belly button. However, while there, the doctor raised concerns about the size of her baby's head. Conor was eventually diagnosed with VOGM in March 2023, which his mum said was 'terrifying'. The condition causes arteries to connect directly to the vein of galen – a deep vein in the brain that drains blood from the brain back to the heart – rather than connecting to capillaries, which would slow down blood flow. It affects roughly 10 to 12 babies in the UK every year. Mrs O'Rourke told PA: 'I genuinely felt like I was living in a nightmare, and I felt like there was going to be a point where somebody was going to phone me and say, 'sorry, we've mixed up the scans, this isn't your child, we've got it wrong', and we just felt completely helpless in that moment in time. 'We just cried and sat in silence for hours. We just didn't know what to do with ourselves.' The treatment for VOGM involves inserting a small, flexible tube called a catheter into the arteries, usually from the groin. Medics use X-ray imaging to guide the tube through the body and into place, and then inject a glue-like substance to block off the artery. In some cases, the same procedure can be performed by inserting the catheter into the veins. Conor had three of these operations in 2023. Conor Mallucci, a consultant paediatric neurosurgeon at Alder Hey, told PA: 'Conor had already had those procedures, both from the artery and the vein, but after a while, in a rare subgroup of these patients, the veins block off and you can no longer get to the malformation. 'And you can't get up there through the artery either, and so you're left with an untreatable malformation that's still supplying abnormal blood to the veins.' When this happens, the jugular veins – a set of major blood vessels in the neck – block off. 'That's rare to this condition, but it's specific to this condition,' Mr Mallucci said. 'And when the jugular veins block off, which happened in Conor, the veins from the brain try and drain elsewhere. 'In his case, he had all these abnormal channels draining to his brain stem and spinal cord. And that results in swelling and damage, which is why he was deteriorating over time.' Mrs O'Rourke told PA her son suffered a small stroke after his third operation in November 2023. Around a year later, and after physiotherapy, the toddler's family were told he was not in a position for more operations and they would scan him in 12 months' time. While his parents were initially 'so happy' to have a year with no scans, they soon noticed their son was struggling. Mrs O'Rourke said: 'In early December, I started to notice that physically he was struggling, and he was limping quite a bit on his left leg.' Mr Mallucci said, by this point, Conor was essentially 'untreatable' and had 'run out of all his options'. 'It's a fight against time, and that happened quite early in Conor, which is why we had to come up with this alternative route,' he added. 'You couldn't get into his head through the veins, because the jugular veins have blocked off, and you can't block off through the artery any more. 'So that's when we came up with our technique, which is to access the veins through open surgery beyond the blockage.' The operation involved accessing the malformation through the skull to target the affected blood vessels. Alder Hey is one of only two centres in the UK equipped to carry out this procedure on children. The hospital has a state-of-the-art theatre with advanced imaging machinery, giving specialists real-time X-ray pictures of blood vessels during operations and allowing them to combine endovascular and open surgery. The technique has never been performed at another hospital. Mr Mallucci told PA: 'Exposing these veins that were blocked at the jugular level is high risk. 'You lose blood. It's a big operation, and to put a needle directly into one of those is a little bit hair raising, so we had to be very careful about that.' Medics told Mrs O'Rourke her son would very tired after surgery and was expected to sleep for around a week and remain in hospital for up to six weeks. However, Conor woke up soon after the operation asking for chips and the family were home after 10 days. Mrs O'Rourke said: 'I obviously went into mum mode and said 'can we get some chips in here please?' Speaking of Conor's recovery, Mr Mallucci said: 'He's not only recovered well, everything that he had going bad was reversed. 'He's become a different child, really, it's like he's suddenly been released.' Mr Mallucci told PA Conor is considered '99% cured' and will not need any more operations. Instead, he will have annual scans to monitor his brain and potentially have an angiogram – when a dye is injected into the bloodstream to allow doctors to capture images of blood vessels using X-ray – in around four to five years. Mrs O'Rourke said: 'No surgery now – unless we get broken arms or legs – but with something like that, we're kind of like 'bring it on'. 'As long as it's not more brain surgery, then we'll probably be able to cope with that.' Specialists at Alder Hey have performed the new technique on two patients, including Conor, and have a third lined up.
