Hillingdon Council are teaming up with the Public Health team, Hillingdon Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust and ARCH to battle with the number of minors getting drunk and being admitted into Hillingdon Hospital’s A&E.
The Cabinet has asked the organisations to gather detailed information about minors who are admitted into hospital as a result of underage drinking in order to figure out where the gaps in the service are to make it more efficient in finding the areas in which needs improvement.
According to the 2011 ESPAD Report, the figures of children and young people in the UK drinking alcohol remains significantly above the European average. The UK still ranks as one of the countries with the highest levels of consumption amongst those of age. However, this means British children are more likely to drink or get drunk compared to children in most other European countries.
Councillor Dominic Gilham, Chairman of the Alcohol Related Admissions Amongst Under 18s Working Group said,
“There are a number of reasons why those under 18 drink alcohol so it is important to ensure that they are educated at an early age about the associated risks.”
He went on to say,
“By talking openly to young people about the risks associated with excessive alcohol consumption, we are equipping them to make better choices.”
The Cabinet called in favours from the education department and asked officers of the Hillingdon Healthy Schools Programme to team with Safer Schools Officers to educate Hillingdon’s young people about the risk of alcohol. The Hillingdon Local Safeguarding Children’s Board were also asked to keep a monthly track of the number of under 18’s being admitted to hospital due to substance misuse.
Councillor Gilham also suggested licence holders to participate in the cause,
“This, coupled with encouraging licence holders to proactively challenge younger purchases who attempt to buy alcohol, would help to reduce the number of young people being admitted to hospital.”
He added,
“It is clear that prevention and education are the key to reducing this number.”
The rate of children and young people admitted to Hillingdon Hospital’s A&E department is quite low, but higher than the national average and the London average. However, Hillingdon has a greater ethnic mix than its neighbouring boroughs which reflects the national profile.
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