Alcohol Liaison team kick starts road to recovery for Royal Surrey patient | News

A Guildford man whose battle with alcohol left him needing a lifesaving liver transplant has revealed how a team from Royal Surrey NHS Foundation Trust helped him turn his life around.

David, whose name we have changed to protect his identity, was expecting to have some painful varicose veins removed when his pre-operative assessment identified a far more pressing issue.

The answers he gave about his alcohol consumption saw David, who is in his mid-60s, referred to the Alcohol Liaison Team (ALT) and given a liver scan. The scan revealed he had cirrhosis, a chronic live disease, and end stage liver failure and he was told he would potentially need to consider a liver transplant.

David, who has since undergone a liver transplant, is just one of up to 1,000 patients ALT review every year, and one of their success stories, thanks to timely diagnosis and effective support to aid his recovery.

This year the team, which were the first hospital-based alcohol liaison team in Surrey, are celebrating their tenth anniversary.

Originally formed to help support patients identified with alcohol misuse in the emergency department, the team’s role has expanded significantly during this time. Key roles are to provide screening for alcohol use, specialist support and onward referral to community alcohol services locally and nationally. 

The team also provides specialist advice to clinical teams treating patients experiencing alcohol misuse, dependence and acute withdrawal while continuing to support the patients during their hospital admissions.

Sian Richardson, Lead Nurse, ALT, said: “The team helps identify and support patients who are  experiencing issues with alcohol and guides them to the help they need, making a huge impact over the past 10 years with some amazing results for patients.”

David said: “The Alcohol Liaison Team (ALT) has been an amazing facilitator and played a crucially important role in helping me finally make the right personal health choices in my life.

“I had been a moderate to heavy drinker all my life from student days and then hit my early 50s and was in stressful, pressurised jobs and started drinking even more. Unbeknown to me, I was doing an awful lot of damage to my liver and becoming very poorly. My behaviour was having a detrimental effect on my relationships and my family relationships especially.

“When I came to Royal Surrey for my operation, the ALT had recently added new questions to the patient pre-assessment questionnaire about alcohol intake. By then I was always 100 per cent honest in my answers on any questionnaires and it meant that not only was my operation postponed, I was also immediately red-flagged to ALT as ‘at risk’ and came under their care.

“I was contacted by the team and invited to one of the team’s clinics. I had a liver scan (called a fibroscan) and the very high result from that showed that I had cirrhosis, a chronic liver disease, and end stage liver failure symptoms. When I asked, ‘what kind of score is that?’ the nurse’s facial expression said it all, it was grim.

“A few months further down the line it became clear to myself, my family, to my gastro consultant, and to the team, that the time had come for me to seriously consider a liver transplant or my chances of living longer than about 18 months were poor. I had quit drinking alcohol by that time for about a year and thankfully I was allowed onto the transplant list.

“I thought I would have a minimum wait of three to six months for the operation but within days I got a call to say, can you get to London for the operation in the next two to three hours? So I had the operation and then the recovery phase began.

“I’ve been teetotal for many years now and my memory of those dangerous drinking years is just one of darkness, desperation and solitude. It’s a horrible, lonely place to be and a difficult place to escape from without the help of others.

“There have been two or three tipping points of behaviour change for me on the road to recovery and an early one was seeing the ALT nurse’s grim facial expression when he talked about my liver scan results and me realising for the first time the actual severity of my medical condition. 

“Another tipping point was knowing that my father had died at a very young age because he had a history of heart disease brought on by smoking and excessive alcohol and that his health decisions meant that he didn’t get to be a grandfather to any of my children. Thirdly, I realised how lucky I was to have a strong partner and young adult children by my side, despite my troubles.

“So those were at least three strong reasons for me to finally say, ‘I really want to hang around longer to see my children have children of their own.’ I thought, ‘ok David, you’re probably going to die soon and miss out on so much unless you make some important decisions right now.’ The ALT and other Royal Surrey clinical teams made it easier for me to make them.

“So I always take my hat off to the ALT. They are special people doing a very hard job. It’s maybe a hackneyed phrase to use nowadays, but to me these people are angels disguised as nurses; they are so consistently kind, dedicated and supportive, despite the fact that they’re working daily with people like me in truly desperate situations.”

Tips to help you cut down on alcohol

If you are looking for help reducing your alcohol intake, there are some practical steps you can try: 

·         Set drink free days each week. Use the NHS Drink Free Days app to set a weekly unit target and stick to it.

·         Swap to lower-strength drinks. 

·         Change social plans, so you meet for coffee, bowling, or a walk instead of in a bar or pub.

·         Wait for your evening meal before having a drink.

·         Stick to a weekly budgeted amount for alcohol.

·         Use exercise rather than drinking to beat boredom and stress. Exercise is a great stress reliever.