Alcohol: signs of improvement. The 2nd National Emergency Department survey of Alcohol Identification and Intervention activity

• objectives – To conduct a survey of current alcohol identification and brief advice activity in English Emergency Departments, and to compare the results to the previous survey conducted in 2007. • methodology – Cross sectional survey of all 187 Emergency Departments in England • results – Significant increases (p<0.001) in the proportion of departments routinely asking about alcohol, using a screening questionnaire, offering help / advice for alcohol problems and having access to Alcohol Health Workers or Clinical Nurse Specialists. More than half of all departments indicated that they had an “alcohol champion”, and this was significantly associated with access to training on both identification and provision of brief advice (p<0.001). Departments that routinely asked questions were the most likely to use a formal screening tool (P