Alcohol Awareness/Screening

Help and advice on screening

Did you know that alcohol has been identified as a causal factor in more than 60 medical conditions? Are you aware of how much you drink? Do you know how many units a week you can safely consume?

Why not try the Alcohol Screening Service at Murrays.

Some of our pharmacies offer an Alcohol Screening and Brief Advice Service to raise your awareness and to get you back on track. This service is designed to screen patients both opportunistically and on days when we run our ‘Alcohol Awareness Days’. Using a simple ‘audit tool’ we score you on your average weekly alcohol consumption. It only takes a few minutes, and is conducted by one of our Alcohol Screening Service trained staff in a friendly and non-judgemental manner.

If the results flag up a cautionary ‘at risk’ category, then we offer some brief advice and a ‘follow up’ appointment to review your drinking status. If we see results that suggest further action may need to be taken, we will discuss this with you, offering a referral into more specialist services.

Benefits of the service

A five-minute consultation with our advisors could reduce drinking by 10 per cent in those displaying hazardous drinking behaviour, benefits will include:

• Raising awareness and helping patients to drink responsibly.
• Quick test undertaken by friendly staff in a confidential and non-judgemental manner.
• Able to refer to specialist services, If deemed necessary, and with your permission, a referral to more specialist services can be made.