Lower My Drinking App relaunches this summer across Cheshire and Merseyside

The successful Lower My Drinking campaign, which supports local people with a free and easy-to-use mobile app, has relaunched this summer to help local people to manage their drinking.

The app gives people the behaviour change techniques they need to reduce their drinking. It tracks drinking against their personal goal, highlights the issues that could lead them to drink, provides tailored coping skills, and the gains they can make by cutting down. The app also signposts individuals to local alcohol services if they are identified as ‘possibly dependent’ and in need of specialist support.

By the end of June 2024, there had been over 3,700 app downloads and website triage assessments, but it’s important to now build on that success and help even more people who may feel their drinking has got a little out of hand. Evidence indicates that by boosting Alcohol Identification and Brief Advice (IBA) in our communities (which this app provides digitally), we can, with your help, make a significant impact on population health.

The re-launch is an ideal opportunity to promote the campaign in your organisation, with partners and across your Places.

Margaret Jones, Director of Public Health for Sefton, and Cheshire and Merseyside’s Lead Director for Reducing Harm from Alcohol, said:

“The Lower My Drinking campaign and app are incredibly useful resources for those in Cheshire and Merseyside who would like some support in managing their drinking habits.”

“There are many benefits to this, including the positive impact that drinking less has on both physical health and mental wellbeing. There are also significant benefits for the system, given the high costs of alcohol harm to the NHS, wider public services, and society.”

“In England, alcohol harms were estimated to cost £21bn in 2016, with levels in Cheshire and Merseyside being amongst the highest in the country. This was exacerbated by the COVID-19 pandemic, with record levels of alcohol harms being recorded since then. As such it is vital that we prioritise prevention activities in our communities, and this is an important resource to help us do that.”

The Lower My Drinking campaign focuses on encouraging downloads of the app, but also offers healthcare professionals and other stakeholders in the sub-region the opportunity to play an important role in making these changes.

Dr Paul Richardson, Consultant Hepatologist (and Honorary Associate Clinical Professor) Royal Liverpool Hospital (LUFT), and co-lead for the Collaborative’s Reduction of Harm from Alcohol programme, explained:

“Alcohol is the biggest risk factor for all early deaths among 15-49 year olds. The risk is not just to those we tend to think of as dependent drinkers, sometimes referred to as ‘alcoholics’. Those who end up on cancer, liver and stroke wards are often ‘normal’ heavy drinkers who might appear well on the outside but who have been unknowingly harming their bodies.”

“This inflicts enormous personal costs on individuals and their families, placing a huge burden on our already stretched health services. These harms are avoidable, however the vast majority of those affected never receive any support to manage their drinking. This app and campaign will help us to reach many more of those people.”

“I want to place thanks to the great efforts of all of our system colleagues who have supported our campaigns to date. The app provides people with the skills to understand the role alcohol plays in their life, anticipate situations where they may be tempted to drink too much and replace drinking with positive activities in their daily routine. With your continued support we can make an even bigger difference in reducing alcohol harms in our communities”

Help support the campaign

The Lower My Drinking campaign toolkit has all the resources needed to promote the app, including printable posters and leaflets, digital ads and website banners, and refreshed social assets and SMS text ideas.

It’s freely available to download from the Lower My Drinking website at lowermydrinking-nhs.org.uk, and the app is available to download from Google Play or the App Store.