The provision of Alcohol Screening, Brief Advice and Extended Interventions in Primary Care Settings

The reason for commissioning this service

Surrey County Council has been awarded an annual Better Care Fund (CBF) grant of £155,000 to commissioning a targeted alcohol screening, identification and brief advice (IBA) and extended brief intervention (EBI) service based in primary care settings. This initiative responds to identified gaps in early alcohol harm prevention and aims to reduce alcohol-related hospital admissions by increasing proactive identification and brief support for residents engaged in risky and harmful drinking.

The services included support the ambitions in Surrey's Health and Wellbeing Strategy, priority one, supporting people to reach their potential by addressing the wider determinants of health. Ensuring people have a healthy weight and are active and that substance misuse is low, including smoking.

The service objectives

The service will enable trained ACWs to conduct opportunistic and proactive alcohol screening in participating GP practices. Using the AUDIT-C and full AUDIT tools, the ACWs will identify individuals drinking at increasing or higher-risk levels. These individuals will then receive brief advice or, where appropriate, a structured extended brief intervention. For those whose needs exceed the scope of brief intervention, the service will facilitate seamless referral into structured treatment services such as i-access or community alcohol programmes. The service will also work collaboratively with GPs, nurses, social prescribers, and local voluntary organisations to strengthen early intervention pathways and increase service visibility.

The service objectives are:

• Deliver screening (AUDIT-C and full AUDIT) to identify risky drinkers.
• Provide brief and extended interventions using evidence-based tools.
• Refer patients needing further support to local alcohol treatment services.
• Build capacity in primary care through integration and partnership.

Anticipated Annual Value £155,000

Total Value inc. Extensions £465,000

Extension options: 1+1