Impact of Alcohol Abuse on the Community Health and Social Care - Essay Example

Introduction An increase in the alcohol consumption has been a major concern for most of the societies due to the health implications that abuse of this drug causes. Most youths do take in a lot of alcohol from very tender ages in their lives and continue doing so well into their adulthood. The results of heavy drinking of alcoholic substances have proved negative- alcohol has clearly impacted negatively on the health of the people who take excessive amounts. Deaths have been reported as consequences of excessive alcohol intake; some youths have had to quit going to school due to their addiction to alcohol and married couples living with the abuse of alcohol in their marriage will often separate or fail to perform within their marriages. In this light, it is quite evident that abuse of alcohol greatly challenges the efforts of the community health and social care in their attempts to foster creation of communities of people who are free from the negative effects of alcoholism. This paper undertakes to discuss the how the abuse of alcohol may impact on the study and the attempts to better the health of the members of a given community, in this case Scotland; and the deliberate steps taken to assist the members of the society who are vulnerable at any one stage of their lives. The approach will base its arguments and strength from the already identified points of Scottish national policies on alcohol intake and a discussion on the influence alcohol has on the general health on the lifespan of the Scottish people. I will also undertake to suggest the services available for the sake of addressing the health requirements and their relevance to the nursing practice. Scottish local policies on alcohol consumption The greatest number of people who receive attention in the making of the Scottish alcohol policies is the small group of the heaviest drinkers yet there is the need to reach out to all the drinkers due to the acute potential effects of a one time off excessive drinking spree. This means that the risk of harming oneself is not necessarily confined to the heavy drinkers only but also to any one person who takes alcohol. Thus the following policies on alcohol have been put into place to regulate the intake of alcohol and ensure the correct measures are taken in by the public (Room et.al. 2005p39). A new legislation has been put into place requiring the local licensing board to put into consideration the protection and the improvement of the health of the public when called upon to grant or to review licences. This clause came into operation only this year (2009) and it is meant to close any form of gap that may exist in the provision of the public rights to take alcohol at ones own discretion and the risks these rights may pose in regard to the health of the individuals. This legislation also prohibits irresponsible promotion of alcoholic drinks in all the areas they are sold for example the restaurants, bars, clubs and pubs that will led to the outlaw of various promotions that encouraged excessive drinking of the alcoholic drinks before. This legislation requires the retailers to set aside display sections for alcoholic products. The Scottish government is still considering the possibility of extending the requirements of the legislation on licensing that is banning the promotions of irresponsible drinks to extend to the supermarkets. This legislation is also checking out how the possibility of incorporating a polluter pays rule in the licensing. Influences of alcohol on health across the lifespan The health problems that the alcohol is known to cause within the body of the persons who uses it cannot be ignored. Statistics has it that there are approximately 60 kinds of diseases that are linked to alcohol consumption due to the harmful effect it has on the body (Lanarkshire 2009). At the same time, a number of injuries have occasionally been linked to the consumption of alcohol e.g. the great number of the road accidents that are caused under the influence of the alcohol most of which turn extremely fatal. This state also causes injury to the people like when they fall on sharp or knock part of their bodies on hard surfaces due to loss of balance caused by excessive intake of alcohol. The consumption of alcohol has been blamed for the death caused by liver cirrhosis that has risen by a whopping 450% in the United Kingdom over the past 30 years. It is a pity that this condition is known to peak at a younger age putting the life of many youngsters to danger. The percentage of incidences of liver cirrhosis in Scotland rose to 52% between the year 1998 and 2002 according to Leon 2002 in his book Liver cirrhosis mortality rates in Britain. Intake of alcohol has also been associated with various other diseases like the caner of the mouth, liver and the oesophagus. This is facilitated by its contribution to the development and even acceleration of the above diseases. The year 2005 saw the death of 2000 Scottish citizens who were directly under the effect of alcohol. This is according to the Scottish public health observatory report. The amounts of alcohol ingested and the patterns of drinking form part of sequences of lack health conditions. The antisocial behaviour and street violence's associated with the drinking of the alcohol also provides some lee way for the compromising of the health and the issue of promoting dependence. The pattern of drinking that involves few drinking episodes but which involve heavy drinking onetime consumption of alcohol during the few episodes has been known to cause a number of adverse health issues which include acute intoxication which in most cases cause alcohol poisoning (healthscotland 2009). A common case also associated with the condition is the acute pancreatitis and arrest of the cardiac muscles- a condition that may lead to acute cardiac arrhythmias. Accidental injuries also pose a higher chance of occurring due to the lack of coordination that is facilitated by intoxication. In the same manner, the consequences of being disorderly might be laid on the person causing physical harm to their bodies for example the person might be beaten up enough to cause him/her physical harm. The intake of small doses of alcohol on a regular basis e.g. daily has the effect of causing liver cirrhosis with time thus leading to the suffering and the ultimate death of the person concerned. Violence caused by the influence of the alcohol intake can be another cause of harm to one's health as the person involved might engage in violent acts that may cause him/her harm to their bodies. This is further facilitated by the fact that intake of alcohol throws the coordination of the brain and its processes off leading to the intoxicated person losing their reasoning and might be predisposed to engage in actions that may end up spelling danger and cause actual bodily harm to them. The other general effects of the intake of alcohol on an individual are high blood pressure; the increased possibility of and attainment of strokes; infertility and foetal damage to the pregnant women. A remote connection between breast cancer and intake of alcohol has also been shown. The above effects that alcohol has on the body of a person who consumes it are harmful enough and no wonder the RSA commission on illegal drugs rated alcohol as the sixth most harmful drug in their report (Courville 2006p67). Services/Agencies available to address health needs There exist a number of agencies in Scotland that supports the health of the Scottish populace in need i.e. these are places where the vulnerable individuals with health issues can visit to have their issues addressed. These agencies are considered below. The community health services in Scotland are categorized into the following groups; the independent community health services which are privately owned and managed by independent administration. They serve the whole populace for as long as the services they offer are paid for. The integrated community health services are offered by those agencies which crop up from larger mother agencies or which work as subsidiaries of the larger health services or sanatoriums. Such subsidiaries are mandated to work under the name and the principles and guidelines of the larger hospitals or health services under which they work. They provide similar services as those of their mother health services and are mostly viewed as parts and parcel of these larger institutions. The other category is the multi- purpose health services that operate in the rural areas of Scotland but are usually funded by the joint venture of the state and that of the common wealth multi-purpose services. This joint venture is often necessary for the pooling of the rural communities around the most common forms of health issues they face and seek for their medical attention at their own discretion. The other category caters for the needs of the women. It basically specializes in the addressing of the problems that women in their neighbourhood or those that find their way from somewhere else face. These are known as women's health services and are basically funded via the Victoria women's health program (Naidoo and Wills 2001p21). The major category is formed by the state-wide services which specializes in various community health problems and which have their operations spread all over Scotland. Some of the agencies that are found under this category includes the International Diabetes Institute; Survivors of torture foundation of Victoria; and the Adolescent health centre among other specialized health services. Relevance to nursing practice With the main focus of nursing being the offering of care for the individuals, families, and the broader community at large, an understanding of how alcohol impacts on the community health care systems and the social health as well would assist the actors in the nursing profession to look into the possible ways through which the community can be attended to medically to ensure all the people found in it are physically and mentally sound. This would mean that the community health centres are in their best possible shaped to cater for the needs of the community. Maintenance and the recovery of health is another focus of nursing that is facilitated through various agencies e.g. the hospitals, clinics, and other health centres. Establishing a relationship between the abuse of alcohol and the effects this abuse may have on the health centres is of vital assistance towards the development of a system that can work for any one particular geographical region to ensure that the community health system is maintained. Abuse of alcohol by a large group of people within a given community would by all means put a strain on the agencies found in such areas and in the process impact on the provision of the required services to cater for a particular problem. This then would make the performers in the nursing sector to look for ways of challenging the abusive practices or to expand the existing agencies to cater for the large numbers of alcohol abusers (Vogel-Sprott and Barrett 2004p46). The initiative of looking into the ways through which over consumption of alcohol impacts on the community and social health in a gives geographical area would give insight to the nursing profession into the cultural inclinations that predisposes abusers of alcohol to do so. The initiative may manage to come up with some patterns of drinking within a geographical setting and manage to strike the patterns with some beliefs found within the given area. This way, an alternative way of approaching the healing of the bad drinking habits would be availed for the profession. This is important for the broader understanding of the habits found within particular geographical areas. All the above contributions towards nursing would assist the nurses to make clear and valid assessment of the situation on the ground, correctly plan for the moves to make to reverse or correct the situation, implement the plans and make the proper evaluation of the initiative (MacMahon 2007p34). Conclusion The impact of alcohol abuse on the community health and social care are quite adverse and has a negative impact not only on the agencies that attempt to cater for the health of the community but also on the individual concerned, their families and the community as a whole. This form of interconnectedness means that once a single person falls into the habit or trap of abusing alcohol, the person often sends a ripple with negative consequences through out the entire community. Of concern also is the amount of individual harm the alcohol has on the health of the individual who abuses it and the strain of the condition exerts on the health facilities found in an area. Community health and the social care therefore is highly dependent on an individual's concern for the wellbeing of their health. References Courville, C. (2006) "Effects of alcohol on the nervous system of man" San Lucas PressP67 MacMahon, S. (2007) "Alcohol consumption and hypertension" Am Heart Assoc P 34 Naidoo, J. and Wills, J. (2001) "Health Studies, an introduction" Chippenham, Palgrave p21 Room, R., Babor, T. & Rehm, J. (2005) "Alcohol and public health" Oxford University Press p39 Vogel-Sprott, M. & Barrett, P. (2004) "Age, drinking habits and the effects of alcohol" Sage pub p46 healthscotland.com (2009) "useful alcohol brief intervention resources" as retrieved from www.healthscotland.com/topics/health/alcohol/useful-alcohol-brief-intervention-resources.aspx on 30th April 2009 Lanarkshire ADAT (2009) "Coordinating action around drugs and alcohol problems" as retrieved from www.lanadat.org.uk on 30th April 2009 Read More