Priory Embraces Web TV To Tackle Alcohol Abuse

( medicalnewstoday news ) The Priory Group is using its expertise to help GPs recognise and deal with the signs of problem and excessive drinking. The UK's leading independent provider of addiction treatment services has commissioned a series of web TV programmes to raise awareness of its specialist services to GPs and other medical practitioners and one of the first subjects tackled was alcohol addiction.

Just this week the National Audit Office (NAO) released startling figures on the growing alcohol problems in England. Hospital admissions for alcohol-related conditions such as liver disease cost the NHS £2.7bn a year. The NAO report also stated that GPs were in an ideal position to help the estimated seven million drinkers who were exceeding the recommended limits but not yet seeing their health affected.

The Priory Healthcare TV report addresses how to recognise the signs of alcohol abuse and what the danger signals are that should alert someone that their drinking is becoming a problem.

Dr. Dorcas Kingham, consultant at The Priory who participates in the programme said: "In the UK 20 per cent of patients attending general practice are drinking in an "at risk manner" while one in five acute medical admissions are related to alcohol. Consumption of alcohol has doubled in the past 40 years. This NAO report highlights the scale of the problems and also underlines the lack of co-ordination in providing alcohol services at a local level.

"The aim of our web TV reports is to present information and advice in a format that people are familiar with from everyday TV viewing which is an easy way to grab attention and bring difficult concepts to life.

"Priory Healthcare News is an innovative and exciting way of bringing the Priory's specialised services to a large audience and building awareness of some of the issues faced by medical practitioners every day."

The programme concerning alcohol addiction can be viewed at http://www.broadbandtvchannel.co.uk/clip.asp?clipid=320

The Priory Group is Europe's leading independent provider of acute mental health, secure and step-down services, specialist education, complex care and neuro-rehabilitation services, working in partnership with the public and independent sectors.

The programmes are hosted on http://www.broadbandtvchannel.co.uk, an internet TV channel targeted at businesses and services, providing a national service compiling TV reports that are then available to view on the internet. The web TV channel is owned by Darlington-based Recognition Services Ltd, which supplies photographic, video, design and web services clients throughout the UK. The company is owned by Graham Robb and Frances Bourne.( www.medicalnewstoday.com ) by Caroline Walker