09 July 2025
The NHS 10-Year Plan is ambitious. But it misses a critical opportunity.
This Alcohol Awareness Week, the Drugs, Alcohol and Justice APPG, which WithYou is proud to be part of, has launched a new report: Action on Alcohol Harm – Priorities for Policymakers.
It couldn’t come at a more urgent time.
Alcohol was a factor in over 20,000 deaths and more than one million hospital admissions in England last year. The total cost to the country is £21 billion, with £3.5 billion falling on the NHS. Yet the new NHS 10-Year Plan includes only passing reference to alcohol harm. Drug-related harm is not mentioned at all.
That silence speaks volumes.
Our CEO Simon Phillips said:
“There is no serious engagement with the role of the voluntary and community sector, and more concerning still is the total omission of plans to address drug-related harm. We are pleased to see the commitment to shifting to a community-led preventative model for alcohol, but would like to see a more ambitious plan for this given that alcohol was a factor in 20,000 deaths and over one million hospitalisations in England last year. Though the plan is ambitious and full of policies, ultimately its refusal to acknowledge the reality of the impact that drug and alcohol harm can have shows just how much work we still need to do to challenge the systemic stigma our sector faces.”
We support the APPG’s recommendations around alcohol harm and the need for a specific national strategy.
At WithYou, we call on national decision-makers to ensure drug and alcohol harm are no longer sidelined. This is a national health issue, and it requires a plan to tackle it together.
