Alcohol National Support Team Visit Findings
Report for Stronger, Safer, Cleaner Communities
Executive Board
Item 10
2010
Author: Richard Martin – Head of Substance Misuse
Background Information
The Department of Health Alcohol National Support Team (NST) visited Derby City in
February 2010 to conduct a review of the City’s alcohol harm reduction programme. The
visit resulted in a report outlining the team’s findings and recommendations. The report was
developed taking into consideration the following evidence-based resources to in the
formation of its analysis and assessment::
 The state of the current alcohol harm reduction strategy, implementation plan and
performance assurance mechanisms
 Examination of governance arrangements, strategy management and commissioning
responsibilities
 NI 39* data and trends (*rate of alcohol related hospital admissions) for the City
 National Alcohol Treatment Monitoring System statistics
 Stakeholder interviews (including CEOs Local authority, PCT and Police BCU
commander)
 Clinical and treatment provider consultations
 The sustainable communities strategy and delivery mechanisms
Generally the findings from the evidence gathered demonstrated strength in the following
area:
 Alcohol Harm reduction strategy is embedded in the sustainable communities
strategy, NHS 5 year strategic plan and healthy Derby Strategy
 NI39 is included in the local area agreement
 There is a planned investment of £2.1 million in alcohol services
 Excellent commissioning framework document for alcohol and committed individuals
Effort being made to create strong partnership between NHS Derby City and local authority.
Sub Title
The NST report also highlighted a number of areas for development which fall under the
following headings:
 The vision of alcohol for the City
 Alcohol Strategy and governance
 Data and Information governance
 Commissioning, Communications and social marketing
 Treatment provision current and future
 Licensing
 Young People and alcohol.
The CSP analysed the report’s findings and developed the recommended action plan
detailed in Appendix 1.
Actions
 To consider the implementation of the actions detailed in the plan at Appendix 1.
Appendix 1 - Proposed Actions from the NST Alcohol Visit - 16.03.10: Report by Sharon Squires (CSP)
Recommendations
1
Leadership

Clear strong chief officer leadership for the alcohol
harm agenda in Derby City
Actions & By whom
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2
Vision
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Establish a clear city vision for alcohol harm reduction
and for the night time economy embedding this vision 
into the day to day work of partner organisations
Identify senior alcohol ‘champions’ in each of the 5 
City Boards to empower actions and drive the alcohol
agenda forward

City Boards to consider the part alcohol plays in the
priorities they have identified in order to maximise the
impact that reducing alcohol harm can have on
achieving the overall vision
Increase the strength of the partnership between NHS
Derby City and Local Authority for tackling the Alcohol
agenda
DCP board adopts alcohol as a critical challenge for the City
DCP management group acts as an ‘improvement programme
board’
An ‘Alcohol Harm reduction leadership team’ is established
chaired by an independent DCP board member and with senior
level nominations from NHS Derby City, DCC, CSP, Police and
DCP
This leadership team to lead implementation of the remainder of
the Alcohol strategy implementation plan with regular progress
reports to the DCP management group and SSCC City Exec
DCP should confirm its vision for alcohol and the night time
economy and mandate the City Boards (particularly City of
Growth and Cultural City Boards, to take action to realise this aim
Refreshed
sustainable
communities
strategy
should
comprehensively reflect alcohol interdependencies
The Local Development Framework to be used by Chief officers
(LA & PCT) for alcohol vision planning
Chief officers to nominate an agreed senior alcohol champion(s)
3
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4
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Refresh the Alcohol Harm Reduction strategy (and 
implementation plan) and the SCS in 2010
Develop a clear focus on delivery and accountability
for achieving outcomes – where is accountability
shared?
Review governance arrangements, membership and
roles and responsibilities of each level in the
partnership structure to encourage ownership of the
strategy by partner agencies
Establish clear governance arrangements in
connection with the city boards (Healthy City Board
and Safer, Stronger, Cleaner City Board) and cross
cutting agenda boards
Develop clear mechanisms to escalate issues to
higher levels within the DCP to unblock and remove
barriers to delivery
CSP Substance Misuse team
Chief officers and key partners to own refreshed strategy
Chief officers and agreed senior alcohol champion to mandate
governance arrangements and determine outcome focused
accountability in key partner agencies

Directors of performance in NHS Derby City and LA to agree an
formation governance system suitable for the complex needs of
the alcohol agenda
LAA review group and responsible bodies (named directors) to
consider how their performance and information capture can be
synergistic to the alcohol agenda and how they can contribute to
intelligence
Strategy & Governance
Data & Information governance

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
Develop a partnership approach to data collection,
analysis and sharing across NHS Derby City, The
CSP and LA
Establish formal arrangements to agree how analytical
capacity across partners can be utilised to support
data collection
Understand and take ownership of the contribution
that alcohol has to wider LAA indicators beyond NI 39
including

5
Commissioning

Review the capacity required to coordinate the alcohol
strategy and commissioning of new services including 
capacity for:
 Needs assessment & Data capture/analysis
 Strategy development and refreshing
 Stakeholder engagement
 Service Level Agreements and service specifications
development
 Directing Procurement and other commissioning
activities
 Performance management
6
Communication & Social Marketing
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7
Communicate the vision for alcohol harm reduction in
Derby to provide regular communication to the local
population, and all service providers and contributing
organisations, on all aspects of the alcohol agenda
Develop a framework for social marketing that links in
with all other local and national social marketing
strategies and campaigns
Treatment

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Implement the new integrated alcohol treatment 
model to create a system capable of meeting the
needs of the City’s problematic alcohol users
Respective NHS directors to ensure appropriate resources to
ensure ongoing capacity for effective strategy development,
management and commissioning
Chief officers to ensure that the arrangements allow
commissioning across the whole alcohol strategy to be brought
together, to ensure that the allocation of investment across the
agenda is fully understood and targeted to meet need
NHS Derby City and Local Authority communication teams
supported by CSP Substance misuse team to generate an
effective communication strategy for alcohol covering all aspects
recommended by the NST and best practice guides
NHS Derby City to develop a social marketing campaign for
segmented alcohol using populations linked to high alcohol
related hospital admissions. Department of Public health should
take this forward
NHS to ensure continued funding and recourse commitment to
implement the alcohol treatment model over 2010/11
NHS Derby City to oversee and performance manage the alcohol
Directed Enhanced Service (DES) and the proposed Local
Enhanced Service (LES) and link them to other related primary

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8
care initiatives including those for hypertensive disease
Implement the ‘Cardiff Model’ of A & E data collection to assist in
the targeting of premises where there is a higher risk of disorder
or other harm associated with alcohol use. NHS Derby City to
influence the hospital in this approach

Local Authority Director(s) and BCU commander to mandate a
team dedicated to reviewing the efficacy of licensing and
enforcement to ensure and effective approach is implemented
immediately
Member and constitutional services to develop an ongoing
training programme for magistrates, elected members,
Responsible Authority staff and licensees to ensure they fully
understand the powers and tools available to them as well as the
wider health and social impacts of alcohol misuse.
Licensing

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9
Ensure accountability and monitoring arrangements
are in place for Primary care GP based alcohol 
treatment
Develop the Hospital Alcohol Liaison Team
The introduction of a formal licensing approach
through a partnership licensing team with protocols
for data sharing.

Review the Council enforcement activity mechanism
of prioritising activity on a risk based approach in light
of other sources of intelligence that are available to
inform the basis on which enforcement visits are
made.
Develop formal intelligence sharing between Derby
City Council, Derbyshire Police and other partners.
Young People

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Join up commissioning across a range of health 
agendas and risk taking behaviours e.g. substance
misuse, teenage pregnancy and smoking.
Implement the operational recommendations derived
from the NST alcohol visits relating to Young person’s
substance misuse treatment and associated cross
cutting issues
Young person’s Commissioning Group to identify trends and
needs, and to inform targeting of future activity
CSP YP Substance misuse lead to review YP substance misuse
treatment with a view to commissioning a more fit for purpose
model over 2010/11