25 September 2020

CNWL’s addictions services are seeing a “significant rise” in numbers of people with alcohol-related problems, particularly the Hounslow area.

Our services have also received a high volume of calls from allied services such as GP practices and community services seeking advice and guidance on referral pathways to our services, which we run across North West London and Milton Keynes.

The rise mirrors data released last week by the Royal College of Psychiatrists showing the prevalence of people drinking at higher risk was at almost a fifth (19%) in June, up from 10.8% in February.

Head of Addiction Services Jody Lombardini said: “We have seen a significant increase in assessment for alcohol-related problems, but we need to further analyse our data to understand the reasons for this rise.

“Times are clearly tough at the moment so our working hypothesis has to be that this is connected to furlough and/or loss of job. We are here to help anyone who presents with a substance misuse problem.”