Public Health and Community Safety
Alcohol abuse destroys lives and is estimated to cost the public purse and business over £900million each year. Getting to the root cause of the growing problem is a top priority for Staffordshire.
Alcohol abuse destroys lives and is estimated to cost the public purse and business over £900million each year. Getting to the root cause of the growing problem is a top priority for Staffordshire.
The effects of alcohol abuse go much further than the damage it does to the person concerned. Apart from giving the individual a lower quality of life and a shorter life expectancy it is often a contributory factor in domestic violence and the effects of this are often felt by children as well as the victim.
It contributes to vandalism, antisocial behaviour, increased costs to the police service and increased costs to the health service both through immediate injuries and long term illness. It also impacts adversely on the economy because it is the direct cause of many missed days at work.
The county council will continue ongoing work with other public sector bodies, business and the voluntary sector to tackle head on the problems around alcohol dependency and hazardous drinking.
Finding innovative ways of promoting responsible drinking in younger adults as well as working with enforcement agencies to ensure a responsible approach to the sale of alcohol by business is a major priority.
Alcohol and drugs are frequently linked to domestic violence and anti social behaviour - two issues that people feel incredibly strongly about. There will be a major review of domestic violence in the very near future.
Drugs, which are so often closely associated with alcohol issues, will continue to be a key focus and we will support and expand the services provided at the addiction centres in Newcastle and Burton.
The county council will be working hard to deal with the causes of addiction as well as looking at improving treatment and education.
We will work to ensure that our safeguarding procedures for vulnerable children and vulnerable adults are not just adequate, they must be excellent and all encompassing.
We will tackle obesity, particularly amongst children, using social media, technology and hard hitting marketing campaigns. It is vital that the message is clear that the lifestyles people choose have a direct result on their health as they get older.
Making individuals aware of the health benefits of giving up smoking as well as the economic benefits that quitting can bring is crucial both in terms of personal health and the cost to the NHS.
Our community safety team will continue to work to reduce anti social behaviour. We will also be working to reduce reoffending.
All of these measures will help to reduce the fear of crime and create a greater feeling of reassurance among residents.
We don't want to put a sticking plaster over any of these problems. We want to face them head on and help prevent them taking hold before any serious damage is done."
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