Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what recent assessment he has made of the adequacy of training for NHS staff on diagnosing and treating alcohol abuse.

United Kingdom medical schools determine the content of their own curricula. The delivery of these undergraduate curricula have to meet the standards set by the General Medical Council (GMC), who then monitor and check to make sure that these standards are maintained. The standards require the curriculum to be formed in a way that allows all medical students to meet the GMC’s ‘Outcomes for Graduates’ by the time they complete their medical degree, which describe knowledge, skills and behaviour they have to show as newly registered doctors.

The GMC’s ‘Outcomes for Graduates’ state that doctors must be able to recognise and identify factors that suggest patient vulnerability and take action in response. In particular, they must be able to recognise where addiction (including to alcohol) is contributing to ill health and take action by seeking advice from colleagues and making appropriate referrals. Furthermore, the GMC’s Generic Professional Capabilities Framework states that doctors in training must be able to do the same and act on this information.