Queen's University Belfast

Academic Institute

Kathryn Higgins

E015

Minimum Unit Pricing (MUP) sets the lowest price at which a unit of alcohol can be sold, and aims to reduce alcohol consumption and consequently health/social alcohol-related problems. The MUP rationale is based on evidence showing a consistent link between higher alcohol prices and lower alcohol consumption and harms (Jackson et al., 2010). In December 2015, RoI approved the Public Health (alcohol) Bill, which outlines plans to introduce MUP. NI have not yet Admissions and Dischargessed comparable legislation although they are likely to follow suit if MUP is found to be an effective public health measure in RoI. These regional differences in planned implementation and timelines provide an opportunity to evaluate the impacts of MUP on health and inequalities as a natural experiment. The project will focus on the comparability of alcohol-related outcomes data that are currently collected routinely in NI and RoI that could potentially be used to evaluate the effectiveness of MUP when it is introduced in RoI. The type of data to be sourced is based on outcomes previously studied in England, Scotland, and Wales (Beeston et al., 2013). A scoping exercise has been carried out to determine what data are available in NI and RoI. The data sources identified by this scoping exercise will be assessed for their NI/RoI comparability. These data sources include hospital admissions; deaths due to alcohol; alcohol consumption, and alcohol-related crime data.

The project will focus on the comparability of alcohol-related outcomes data that are currently collected routinely in NI and RoI that could potentially be used to evaluate the effectiveness of MUP when it is introduced in RoI. The regional differences in planned implementation and timelines provide an opportunity to evaluate the impacts of MUP on health and inequalities as a natural experiment.

16/03/2016

TRE