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Alcohol Project

Please note that this project is no longer active. It ran from 2000 to April 2011.

Members of the ProjectRolande Anderson, Director of the ICGP Alcohol Awareness Project

Project Director
Rolande Anderson, email: rolande.anderson@icgp.ie
Administrator
Yvette Dalton, email: yvette.dalton@icgp.ie

Summary of Project

The project is mainly an educational resource for general practitioners. It involves the education and dissemination of best practice in the field of alcohol interventions for patients who attend primary care practitioners.

Background to the Project

The project commenced in March 2000. It was initiated following an approach from Merck Pharmaceutical and developed by the Director of the ICGP Postgraduate Resource Centre and the CEO of ICGP.

The problems of alcohol abuse and dependence had been very much neglected in medical training and practice. The project was designed to address these deficits for GPs and GP trainees. The first phase of the project ran from March 2000 to September 2003 and was supported by Merck, apart from a three-month period that was supported by the ICGP.

Since 2003, funding has been provided on two separate three year periods by the Department of Health and Children, and the HSE.

Educational Aims of Project

  • To educate GPs in brief interventions for the range of alcohol problems.
  • To encourage GPs to educate patients and their families about the range of alcohol problems.
  • To provide the necessary skills training to primary care staff.
  • To develop guidelines and practical help for GPs to help patients.
  • To encourage and support training programmes to develop alcohol modules.
  • To generate public awareness and lobby for appropriate changes in legislation and attitudes towards alcohol use and abuse.

The project has been very successful in raising awareness among the medical profession as well as with the general public. Two successful research initiatives within general practice have been completed and can be reviewed within this section of the website. The project is in the forefront of media consultation on alcohol related issues and has been a partner in two EU studies on alcohol and primary care. We have demonstrated that alcohol problems can be tackled effectively within primary care.