Alcohol scratch cards to manage drinking

Oxfordshire County Council has launched a new campaign to help people to better understand the health risks of drinking too much alcohol. Pharmacies across the county will be issuing scratch cards to customers, with the aim being to educate people while finding out more about drinking habits.

One of the pharmacists participating in the campaign is Stuart Gale from Frosts Pharmacies. He said: “The scratch card is a great way of instigating conversation; in as little as 20 seconds you find that people are responding really positively and volunteering information about their drinking.”

After the customer has used the scratch card, the pharmacist is able to broach the subject of drinking.

Hilary Hibbert-Biles, Oxfordshire councillor and cabinet member for public health, explained why the new campaign had been launched: “During December we wanted to encourage responsible drinking during the festive season and now, as people consider making changes for a healthier 2014, we want to explain why alcohol endangers our health and what can be done to avoid the risks.” She added that working with pharmacy staff, who are respected professionals, provides the perfect opportunity to do just this.

Alcohol dependency and abuse is a serious problem, and many people are unaware that they have a problem. It often affects people more in middle age when disposable income increases and activity levels decline. It is not uncommon for some couples to open a bottle of wine every day.

The current government guideline for safe alcohol consumption is three to four units a day for men and two to three units a day for women. One large glass of wine (250ml) contains up to four units, which means that many women who are daily wine drinkers are consuming more alcohol than is healthy.