Drinkaware today (February 20) announced a new partnership with Paydens to roll out a “free drinking check” across 128 of its stores in the southeast of England, allowing pharmacists to “assess people’s drinking habits”.
Paydens patients will be offered a “quick, three-minute online quiz” to help them “understand the potential impact of their drinking habits on their health”, the charity said.
Read more: Morrisons rolls out free ‘drinking checks’ across pharmacies
The quiz is made up of ten multiple-choice questions about alcohol use and patients must score themselves between 0 and 4 on each, it explained.
The scores are then added together and the higher the score, “the greater the likelihood that you are drinking in a risky or harmful way,” the alcohol harm charity said.
“Regular checking”
The service “offers tailored advice and support for those who may need help moderating their drinking”, it said, and that “pharmacists will work with their local GP and alcohol treatment services”.
Paydens pharmacists will receive training from Drinkaware on how to use the drinking check, the charity said, and as part of the initiative “posters and leaflets [will be] distributed across all 128 store pharmacies to encourage customers to check their drinking”.
Read more: Paydens ‘focused’ on meeting sector challenges amid £6m loss in 2023
Drinkaware chief executive Karen Tyrell said that “we’re delighted to have the opportunity to reach into the heart of these communities through this exciting partnership”.
“By Paydens offering the drinking check to its customers, it’s a step towards normalising the regular checking of drinking habits,” she said.
“People routinely visit the doctors to check their blood pressure or cholesterol, so why shouldn’t the same apply to alcohol,” she added.
“Vital tool”
“The drinking check is based on the internationally recognised World Health Organisation (WHO) Alcohol Use Disorders Identification Test (AUDIT) which is used by medical professionals across the world to check the risk of alcohol-related problems, including alcohol dependence,” the charity said.
And Paydens’ professional services coordinator Shameera Chandrarajah said that “we are proud to be supporting our communities by providing this vital tool to help people understand their drinking habits and make informed health choices”.
Read more: Does pharmacy have a drug and alcohol addiction problem?
It comes after Drinkaware announced a very similar partnership with Morrisons last month (January 15), offering free drinking checks across all the supermarket’s 117 in-store pharmacies in the UK.
And Tyrell said at the time that it is “crucial [to] reach as many people as possible” with the service.
