Health chiefs in Bradford have pledged to spend an extra £410,000 on services to help people with alcohol problems.

The cash will be spent on increasing detoxification services, including inpatient beds and medically-enhanced detox programmes and developing aftercare services, such as counselling and structured day programmes to get people back into work or education to prevent people who have detoxed from relapsing.

There will be training for 400 health staff to raise awareness of alcohol misuse, a programme which will be rolled out to dentists, housing and criminal justice staff in the future following an extra £30,000 from the Strategic Health Improvement Partnership, which will provide training for an additional 900 people.

Specialist alcohol workers will also be attached to Bradford hospitals to give advice and support.

Funding will also be given to Bradford's Piccadilly Project, so its services helping people with alcohol problems can be developed.

Bradford and Airedale Teaching Primary Care Trust has agreed to spend the money after taking part in an alcohol implementation group, alongside Bradford Council, the police and the voluntary and community sector.

The group has developed a strategy to reduce the harm and risks associated with alcohol. It covers education and communication, combating alcohol-related crime and disorder, as well as improving health and treatment services.

It aims to minimise the personal, social and health harms of drinking and the violence and anti-social behaviour associated with alcohol misuse.

It also aims to let the law-abiding majority be free from fear, violence, intimidation and drink-impaired drivers and to ensure that adults are able to enjoy alcohol safely and responsibly.

Liz Barry, interim joint commissioning manager for Bradford and Airedale Teaching Primary Care Trust, said: "Alcohol misuse is not confined to a distinct group of the community, but affects a significant proportion of people of all ages from a variety of backgrounds.

"This extra funding will help us to increase the services we provide, reduce waiting times for people to access the right services when it is needed "A further initiative planned to improve services is that alcohol advice workers are being based at various GPs to offer specialist help and advice to people visiting the surgeries."

e-mail: claire.lomax@bradford.newsquest.co.uk

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Alcohol factfile:

Yorkshire and the Humber is the worst region for binge drinking.

In Bradford it is estimated that 17.2 per cent of over 16-year-olds binge drink.

Alcohol misuse causes around 200 premature deaths in the Bradford district each year.

There are also around 180 alcohol-related sexual assaults and 3,400 cases of alcohol-related domestic abuse.

About 70 per cent of A&E admissions on Friday and Saturday evenings are alcohol-related.

The annual cost of alcohol related harm in Bradford is estimated to be at least £135 million.

In 2000 to 2002, 27.8 per cent of the population was drinking above the sensible drinking weekly limits - 84,000 people in Bradford.

Also, 5.2 per cent of people aged 16 to 64 in Bradford are alcohol dependent.

About 160 domestic violence incidents were reported to West Yorkshire Police in the Bradford district each week during 2005/06.

The Government's guidance for sensible drinking is not more than 21 units of alcohol per week for men and 14 units a week for women.