Alcohol
October 9, 2025 2025-10-26 1:52Alcohol
Alcohol
Enjoy the knowledge check, watch our video and download top tips for your patients. Keep scrolling to see the research and useful signposts…
"Regularly drinking more than 14 units of alcohol a week risks damaging your health."
NHS
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Watch our video
Drinking too much alcohol when preparing for treatment can increase risk and cause complications.
Alcohol use disorders identification test for consumption (Audit C) helps identify harmful drinking.
Audit C
Use this three-step alcohol screening tool to help identify whether drinking is causing a patient harm.
Limiting alcohol
Helping patients to drink within recommended limits...
Limiting alcohol intake
The UK government recommends drinking no more than 14 units of alcohol per week. The NHS recommends spreading these units over three or more days.
Alcohol-free days
Prior to treatment, patients should aim to cut down their alcohol consumption to recommended limits, leaving some days completely alcohol-free.
Reducing alcohol intake
If patients are drinking too much, it's important that they slowly reduce their drinking to safe limits, as suddenly stopping may lead to issues with withdrawal.
Withdrawal symptoms
Withdrawal symptoms can include tremor, anxiety and auditory and visual disturbances, and headaches. Not all alcohol patients will experience withdrawal.
UK government recommendations
The table shows units of alcohol in popular drinks and the number of calories.
One unit of alcohol is equal to 10mls or 8g of pure alcohol.
The average human body can break down alcohol by 1 unit per hour.
A person's actual rate varies, depending on various factors.
These include BMI and how much the person has eaten.
A closer look at alcohol...
What is a safe amount of alcohol consumption?
Any amount of alcohol carries risk, and there’s no safe level of alcohol consumption. Keeping to below the recommended 14 units per week, with alcohol-free days, helps limit the risk.
What are the consequences of drinking too much alcohol?
Regularly drinking more alcohol than recommended targets before treatment can lead to a longer recovery time and a higher risk of complications. When people consume too much, they are also at risk of disturbed sleep quality, decreased nutritional intake, and negative effects on their mental health. Alcohol also impacts employment sustainability and relationships, and is linked to violence and crime.
What is alcohol dependence?
Drinking above the low-risk guidelines increases the risk of developing alcohol dependence, defined by NICE as a combination of behavioural, cognitive and physiological factors that typically include a strong desire to drink alcohol and an inability to control its use. It can be thought of as a persistence in drinking, despite harmful consequences, or as a view that alcohol has a higher priority in their life than other responsibilities.
What is the link between alcohol and liver diseases?
Alcohol accounts for over a third of all cases of liver disease, one of the leading causes of death in England. People are also dying from this at younger ages now, despite most liver diseases being preventable.
How can alcohol consumption affect brain health?
Drinking too much alcohol can cause permanent alcohol related brain damage. Symptoms can include difficulty walking, blurred vision, slurred speech, poor memory, blackouts and slowed reaction times.
What effect does alcohol have on surgery?
Drinking more than 14 units per week may result in more checks before an operation to test how well a person’s organs are functioning. Prior to surgery, regularly drinking more than three drinks at a time can…
- Reduce the body’s ability to fight infections
- Weaken the heart
- Make it harder for a person’s liver to deal with medication and painkillers, increasing the risk of side effects
At the very least, patients should try to drink within safe limits at least 6-8 weeks before surgery.
How can I help my patients?
Brief interventions can help patients who drink too much to cut back or quit if it is safe to do so.
The advice should use FRAMES principles
Feedback, Responsibility, Advice, Menu, Empathy and Self-efficacy
It can be helpful to point out the following…
- Potential harm caused by their drinking
- Reasons for changing their behaviour, including health and wellbeing benefits
- Barriers to change
- Practical strategies to help reduce alcohol consumption
- Identification of goals
Empower patients to drink less alcohol
Empower and motivate people to make positive lifestyle changes.
Be non-judgemental and open when discussing alcohol intake.
Be aware of health inequalities and socio-economic factors.
Complete individualised assessments to address patients' needs.
Links
Signposting
Provide a brief intervention to help patients reduce their alcohol units or refer them to specialist alcohol services which can support the patient to make safe changes. Patients can be referred or self-refer.
Click the tabs below
Screening tools help people assess their drinking levels.
Click the links on the right to see the resources.
Various websites provide information on alcohol.
Click the links on the right to see the resources.
There are apps to help people reduce alcohol intake.
Click the link on the right to see the resources.
