Staffordshire alcohol expert warns of 'invisible' group of problem drinkers

One of Staffordshire's top psychologists says new ministers need to make commitments to stop alcohol destroying peoples lives.

NHS research suggests the more people drink the higher the risk gets for things like cancer, heart disease, and even day-to-day injuries

"I'd like to see it quite high up as a priority, it actually has a really big impact on society." said Richard Cooke, Professor Of Health Psychology at Staffordshire University.

"One of things I've been talking about is there's a real hidden issue with alcohol which is if you look at the data there's a lot of hidden drinkers, people are drinking at home who are actually in their middle age. In their forties, fifties and sixties - and these are the people that end up in hospital because they've drunk more than is advised - and there's no social pressure on them to drink less, because they're drinking and no one is seeing them drinking.

"They're the group that I really think need targeting at a policy level, because there hasn't been any alcohol policy in England for over a decade, so I'm hoping there will be some and that's a priority - but they're all focused on youth drinking they don't focus on middle aged drinking."

Richard continued: "They're not even masking it. They said "you know we opened a bottle of wine, and we finished it." If you do that multiple times in a week it's quite easy to drink more than 14 units.

"People will say if it doesn't interfere with my job or if it doesn't interfere with my family, then what's the problem? Well I say that's okay from a psychological point of view but from a health point of view you're actually doing a lot of damage internally without being aware of that damage. That's where the problems come later down the line."

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