Alcohol health work an opportunistic A&E intervention

Objectives

To describe the Alcohol Health Work intervention, by setting the scene with a brief overview of the impact of alcohol-related health problems at accident & emergency, then describing the Paddington Alcohol Test and other alcohol screening tools, and the concomitant impact on the rest of the hospital. Finally, there will be a case study illustration of the use of PAT and the AHW intervention.

Setting

St Mary’s A&E department, at a busy central London hospital, where the PAT process has been developed over the past decade as a response to the perceived effects of alcohol misuse.