As part of the National Men's Health week, Sunderland Men's Health Network are having a Health Campaign TODAY from 10am to 4pm
outside Marks & Spencer (Sunderland High Street West) promoting healthy living for men

What's happening?
10am: Official opening by the Deputy Mayor of Sunderland, Cllr Ian Kay

· Meet former Sunderland Players or get heard on Radio Sun Fm

· Enjoy a penalty shootout wearing drunk simulation glasses

· Men's health checks will be available with experts assessing       lifestyle

· Free blood pressure tests and Body Mass Index (BMI) calculations

· Stalls on alcohol, smoking, sexual health, Stroke & Cancer    awareness and much more.........

· Free Non Alcoholic Cocktail and Fruit

Throughout the day you can come to any of our stalls and receive FREE health information

If you stop by you could win free tickets to see The Kings of Leon tonight or tickets to a Sunderland Game

If your interested in getting involved with men's health, email menshealth@sotw.nhs.uk or call Yusuf on 0191 52972

Sector 3 are one of several partners in"Health Stop", a new unit in the Metro Centre, where shoppers can drop in and get advice and information on all sorts of health issues.

Sector 3 will be talking to people about Brief Intervention for Smoking on Saturday 8th May between 10am and 1pm.  If you are at the Metro, why not drop in and see what's going on - or even better, get some info for someone who's thinking of quitting smoking.  Help is here! 

Our Alcohol IBA course is free to all NHS staff across Gateshead, South Tyneside and Sunderland.

Identification and Brief Advice (IBA) is effective in helping people who drink in a harmful way to reduce their alcohol consumption and our IBA course will enable you to:

• Develop a "prompt" tool to help you "Think Drink" for common presentations


• Raise the issue of alcohol related harm using a simple and non-confrontational "opening"


• Calculate "Units" confidently


• Assess a clients readiness to change and modify your response accordingly


• Deliver advice in a short, personalised and structured way

The training can be delivered as an "open" group session, where participants may come from one or more of these services, or as a "closed" session, which will be restricted to members of your team. Our course is in two parts:

1. An on-line pre-learning programme (max of 60 mins). This gives the theory behind IBA and describes the effects of drinking at a higher than recommended level.

2. A practical skills workshop (90 to 120 mins). This will equip you with the practical skills and confidence to identify the early signs of harmful drinking and to raise the issue of alcohol with the patient. You will be able to accurately assess their risk and learn how to say the right things that will help the patient.

Visit www.alcoholfirstcontact.co.uk to find out more.

NHS South of Tyne and Wear invests £5.6m in new services to reduce alcohol misuse

In line with the Department of Health's national campaign to reduce alcohol misuse, NHS South of Tyne and Wear has invested £5.6m to develop new services to support people with alcohol problems and reduce alcohol-related harm, and will launch the services under its 'Drink Less. Live More.' campaign during alcohol awareness week (19 - 25 October 2009).

Gateshead, South Tyneside and Sunderland all sit among the ten per cent of areas across England with the highest rates of alcohol-related hospital admissions. The new services will establish positive, controlled relationships with alcohol - reducing the burden on people's health and the health services.

This network of alcohol treatment services provide a range of professional advice and support with telephone helplines, websites, support groups, drop-ins and residential care located across the three Primary Care Trust areas.

Free access to NHS South of Tyne and Wear's new online Alcohol Help Centre is available through a confidential assessment to help people identify if their alcohol consumption patterns are putting their health at risk.

As well as working with local GPs, alcohol advice and support phone lines and open access centres have also been developed to help direct people to the service or programme that will work for them, helping them reduce their consumption to allow for a healthier, happier lifestyle.

Treatment centres include peer support groups such as South Tyneside's North East Regional Alcohol Forum, rehabilitation packages managed by Sunderland Drug and Alcohol Team and support for carers of people who misuse alcohol, such as Gateshead Carers' Association, amongst others.

We are holding a briefing session at the Quality Hotel, Boldon on Monday 28th September, 12 noon until 1.30 pm.
Please note lunch will be provided 12 noon until 12.30 pm, the briefing will begin after this.
This will be your opportunity to find out about the background to this year's campiagn, and how you can successfully promote awareness of this important health issue.
You must register for this event, please contact yvonne.hudson@sotw.nhs.uk or telephone 283 1122

Under the influence - the damaging effect of alcohol marketing on young people
British Medical Assocation, September 2009
This report examines the damaging effect of alcohol marketing on young people. It aims to identify effective ways of protecting young people from the influence of alcohol promotion and marketing, thereby redressing the excessively pro-alcohol social norms to which they are exposed.

This leafletAlcohol how does your night end.pdf will help people make choices about how much they drink. It explains how alcohol can affect them, explains how to stay safe when drinking and what to do if someone is in trouble after drinking too much.
Produced by COI for the Home Office and the Department of Health
further copies and copies of a range of alcohol material are available from

www.mopil.sunderland.nhs.uk
or telephone the Public Health Improvement Information Team on 283 1124 /1125 / 1126.

You will already be acutely aware of alcohol's influence on health, crime and disorder and the economy. As a region we are sleep-walking into problems with alcohol and there is a serious price to pay, for all of us:

• The North East is home to 12 of the top 20 areas for binge drinking in England
• Alcohol misuse costs the region more than £1billion a year
• The North East has the second highest number of incapacity benefit claimants in England due to alcohol
• It has the highest number of teenage conceptions
• 46% of all crime is alcohol related
• We have some of the highest rates of alcohol-related hospital admissions in the country.

To do this successfully we need your help.

To give you a flavour of Balance's aims and to identify how we can work in partnership to start a regional debate on alcohol, we would like to invite you to join us at one of our exclusive preview events taking place in June 2009.

The 3rd Edition of 'Limits' is now available for download by following this link:

Limits Newsletter April 2009, PDF, 608KB

The May 2009 newsletter is now available on the NHS Evidence national library for public health website

Archived newsletters are now at:
http://www.library.nhs.uk/publichealth/page.aspx?pagename=NEWSLETTER

Gateshead Alcohol Harm Reduction Strategy for 2009 - 2011
Produced by Safer Gateshead, April 2009

The strategy aims to reduce alcohol related harm in Gateshead for people
living, working and learning in the borough and includes an Action Plan.

Download the strategy here

The average wine drinker in England now consumes around 2,000 calories from booze alone each month, new figures out today show. Over a year this is equivalent to 38 extra roast beef dinners or almost 184 bags of crisps.

Read more at:
http://www.dh.gov.uk/en/News/Recentstories/DH_098315

The April 2009 newsletter is now available on the NLH Public Health Specialist Library website or you can download it here.

Archived newsletters are now at:
http://www.library.nhs.uk/PUBLICHEALTH/ViewResource.aspx?resID=313467

MOD-034 - Alcohol What is a unit? (model) - visually demonstrates how many units are contained in popular alcohol drinks, lager, wine, alcopops etc. (Available for loan)

MOD-021 - Drunk and Dangerous Goggles - Try these on to simulate how alcohol can affect your judgement. (Available for loan)

MOD-045 - The Consequences of Alcohol Abuse (model) - Visually demonstrates the many consequences of alcohol abuse (Available for loan)

MOD-068 - Death of a Liver - (model) - Demonstrates a normal liver, a liver with hepatitis and a liver with cirrhosis. (Available for loan)

MOD-092 - Glass of Beer, Think before you drink (model) - This plastic mug contains a brain suspended in simulated beer. This is a good way to start a conversation/discussion on what effects drinking can have on a person. (Available for loan)

DVD02-001 - Binge Drinking - (DVD) - A short, sharp DVD that hits the mark about the dangers of binge drinking. Covers alcohol, health issues, peer pressure and personal safety. Based around the theme of soccer techniques - anti binge drinking messages for girls and boys. (Available for loan)

DVD02-003 - Young people explore parental alcohol misuse (DVD) - 1.3 million children in the Uk have parents who misuse alcohol. Now children have made a film to show how this affects them. (Available for loan)

All items available from the Public Health Improvement Information Team
Tel 283 1124 / 283 1125 / 283 1126
email healthinfo@sotw.nhs.uk

This is a funding scheme which gives local and national projects a chance to change the nation's drinking habits. Grants are available to any groups in any part of the UK, working with any population group. If you think your project could benefit get in touch with Drinkaware by going to:-http://www.drinkaware.co.uk/grants
Or email Andy Law at alaw@drinkawaretrust.org.uk.
For informal advice telephone 020 7307 7450.

Significant new investment is being made in new and expanded alcohol treatment services by three local health primary care trusts.

NHS South of Tyne and Wear, which incorporates the primary care trusts serving Gateshead, South Tyneside and Sunderland, has announced plans to invest £5.7m annually in additional services to help those with alcohol related health problems in its area.