GLAD shares new guidelines to help patients manage alcohol or other drug-related health concerns

General Practitioners (GPs) providing care to help patients manage alcohol or other drug-related health concerns can access advice and support via the Sydney Local Health District GP Liaison in Alcohol and other Drugs (GLAD) project.

According to an analysis of HealthPathways Sydney page views (June 2018 to May 2022), alcohol continues to be the most frequent reason for GPs to contact GLAD.

New guidelines for managing health concerns relating to alcohol have been released and are available on the website. The guidelines provide a valuable resource for general practice.

A summarised version of the guidelines, published as a Medical Journal of Australia (MJA) supplement, are available online here. Of particular relevance to GPs, in this supplement:

Chapter 2 highlights the importance of screening for unhealthy alcohol use (with information about screening tools suitable for general practice settings) and provides guidance about the testing and interpretation of biological markers of unhealthy alcohol use.
Chapter 3 provides an overview of evidence-based approaches for managing patients with health concerns relating to alcohol. These include brief interventions, motivational interviewing, alcohol withdrawal management including how to determine the best withdrawal setting, and pharmacotherapies that can help maintain abstinence and prevent relapses of heavy drinking.

While the above resources will be valuable for the management of patients with health concerns related to alcohol in general practice settings, your local GLAD service is also available for specific advice, support and referral suggestions.