CKS is no longer commissioned by the National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence (NICE). NICE remains committed to providing a replacement service for CKS and is currently reviewing its options. In the meantime, although CKS content is now not being maintained, it still remains relevant and will continue to be made available. CKS content was generated under a programme of topic creation and update. To check if the topic you are viewing is current or out of date, please refer to the topic publication details by clicking on the 'How up-to-date is this topic?' link in the left hand menu on individual topic pages.
Alcohol - problem drinking - Management
Basis for recommendation
Screening for problem drinking
- Recommendations on who to screen are based on the public health guidance Alcohol-use disorders: preventing the development of hazardous and harmful drinking published by the National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence (NICE) [NICE, 2010c].
- Ideally, alcohol screening should be carried out routinely as an integral part of clinical practice. However, NICE has recognized that this is not always feasible or practical, and has listed groups considered to be at increased risk of alcohol problems (based on observational studies and expert opinion).
Incidental findings
- The recommendation to screen people for alcohol misuse after an incidental finding is based on expert opinion from a review from the NHS National Treatment Agency for Substance Misuse [Raistrick et al, 2006]. It is consistent with recommendations made by NICE [NICE, 2010c].
- Problems with alcohol are underdiagnosed for various reasons, including poor recognition by healthcare professionals, or withholding of information by people because of shame or fear of stigmatization [Enoch and Goldman, 2002].
© NHS Institute for Innovation and Improvement