Cwm Taf Morgannwg University Health Board’s Alcohol Care Team (ACT) is a Value-Based Health Care Funded service which supports patients across the CTM UHB, 7 days a week.
Around 10 million people in the UK regularly drink in ways that could harm their health. From sleepless nights and low mood to reduced concentration and increased anxiety, alcohol can have a significant impact on our personal and professional lives. The impact of alcohol on health is more pronounced in areas of deprivation due to a combination of health inequalities, including mental and physical needs, and lack of supportive services to manage them.
A scoping exercise found the pre-existing Monday – Friday, 9am-5pm service was ineffective in capturing the hours most likely for alcohol related hospital admissions. Therefore, the vision was to implement a 7-day alcohol care service across our 3 District General Hospitals with outreach into the community.
Launching in 2023, the team is made up of five Registered Nurses and three Alcohol Care Practitioners working across the CTM region, with bases in Princess of Wales Hospital, Royal Glamorgan Hospital and Prince Charles Hospital.
The service is available to support both patients and staff in relation to alcohol use, whether the goal is complete abstinence or reducing consumption. The team provides a range of interventions within hospital settings and offers continuity of care by bridging support between hospital and community services.
The focus from the outset in developing this service was to have a co-productive, collaborative and person-centred approach with patients with lived experience, healthcare professionals, the Area Planning Board and third sector such as Barod to make an accessible, sustainable service across CTM. This service development has put the person at the forefront, empowering them to share their story, needs and aspirations for an informed new model of care, which considers the wider implications of alcohol misuse.
The team hosted a series of focus group for service users, to gain a better understanding of their needs, and to include their input and comments when designing the service and specific pieces of work such as a patient information leaflet. The leaflet, which was co-produced with service users, is now being shared with patients across CTM and is available for use by other health boards across Wales.
Service users have also been a part of the ACT’s recruitment processes and have assisted the team in co-producing a questionnaire to be used in CTM UHB’s emergency departments.
Since the launch, the ACT Service Team has:
Since the 7-day service was implemented:
One service user shared: “The new community service groups have been life-changing. I feel more supported and understood in my journey recovery.”
David Samuel (Consultant Hepatologist) with the ACT service said: “Since we launched the ACT service, using a collaborative approach, we have been able to design and implement community-based treatments, interventions, and engagement with patients living in Bridgend, Rhondda Cynon Taf and Merthyr Tydfil.
“We have seen significant improvement in outcomes, as we have not only been able to support more patients, but we have also been able to avert over 400 admissions, resulting in significant cost and service efficiencies. Our service is a fantastic example of how Value-Based Healthcare can have an incredibly positive, significant impact. We wouldn’t have been able to achieve any of this without the funding from the Value-Based Healthcare team, and we’d like to thank them for their ongoing support.”
Click here to find out more about the ACT Team.
18/09/2025
