Purves Richard, Mohan Andrea, O'Donnell Rachel, Egan Matt, Maani Nason, Fitzgerald Niamh
Institute for Social Marketing and Health, University of Stirling, Stirling, Scotland, UK.
School of Health Sciences, University of Dundee, Dundee, Scotland, UK.
Public Health Res (Southampt). 2025 Jan;13(2):1-19. doi: 10.3310/RNVD1542.
Evidence suggests that controls on the physical and temporal availability of alcohol can reduce alcohol-related harms. Public health teams in England and Scotland have in recent years been given a statutory role in licensing systems through which premises are granted permits to sell alcohol. The Exploring the Impact of alcohol premises Licensing in England and Scotland study examined public health team efforts to engage in alcohol licensing from 2012 to 2019.
We aimed to describe the range of public health team practice in engaging with alcohol licensing across England and Scotland, with a particular focus on unusual or innovative practices.
Two sets of interviews were conducted with 20 public health teams in England and Scotland who were actively engaged in alcohol premises licensing. Firstly, representatives of each public health team with experience of licensing activity took part in structured face-to-face or telephone interviews ( = 41) and provided documentation to identify how and when their team engaged with alcohol premises licensing. Secondly, members of public health teams took part in in-depth one-to-one interviews ( = 28) which focused on individual roles and responsibilities. Relevant public health team activity was analysed quantitatively within 19 activities in 6 categories using the 'Public Health engagement In Alcohol Licensing' measure, as well as qualitatively using NVivo (QSR International, Melbourne, Australia). Innovative practices were identified using the highest Public Health engagement In Alcohol Licensing scores for specific activity types across single or multiple 6-month periods.
Within each of the six activity categories, a range of practices were observed. More unusual practices included having a dedicated post to work full-time on alcohol licensing; developing a standardised reviewer tool allowing the team to respond to applications and provide the most relevant evidence in a consistent and systematic way; committing to additional scrutiny of occasional licences or temporary event notices; maintaining a detailed database recording applications made, whether the public health team decided to object and the outcome of the licensing board's decision; engaging with applicants prior to them submitting an application; visiting proposed/current licensed premises to gather bespoke data; leading the writing of local licensing policy; and working closely with licensing standards officers.
Across six categories of public health team activity relating to the local alcohol premises licensing system, public health team practices varied, and some public health teams stood out as engaging in more innovative or intensive activities. The identified examples will be of value in informing public health team practice in what remains a relatively new area of work for many, despite limitations in the system. The inclusion of examples from both England and Scotland and from many public health teams will facilitate cross-fertilisation of ideas and practice across public health teams.
This article presents independent research funded by the National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR) Public Health Research programme as award number 15/129/11.
有证据表明，对酒精的供应时间和场所进行管控可减少与酒精相关的危害。近年来，英格兰和苏格兰的公共卫生团队在酒类销售许可系统中被赋予了法定职责，通过该系统，场所可获得销售酒精的许可。“探索英格兰和苏格兰酒类销售许可的影响”研究考察了2012年至2019年公共卫生团队在酒类销售许可方面所做的努力。
我们旨在描述英格兰和苏格兰各地公共卫生团队在参与酒类销售许可方面的实践范围，特别关注不同寻常或创新的做法。
对英格兰和苏格兰20个积极参与酒类销售许可工作的公共卫生团队进行了两轮访谈。首先，每个有酒类销售许可活动经验的公共卫生团队的代表参加了结构化的面对面或电话访谈（n = 41），并提供文件以确定其团队如何以及何时参与酒类销售许可工作。其次，公共卫生团队的成员参加了深入的一对一访谈（n = 28），重点是个人的角色和职责。使用“公共卫生参与酒类销售许可”指标对六类19项活动中的相关公共卫生团队活动进行了定量分析，并使用NVivo（QSR国际公司，澳大利亚墨尔本）进行了定性分析。通过在单个或多个6个月期间特定活动类型的最高“公共卫生参与酒类销售许可”得分来确定创新做法。
在六个活动类别中的每一类中，都观察到了一系列做法。更不同寻常的做法包括设立一个专门职位全职从事酒类销售许可工作；开发标准化的审核工具，使团队能够以一致和系统的方式回应申请并提供最相关的证据；承诺对临时许可证或临时活动通知进行额外审查；维护一个详细的数据库，记录收到的申请、公共卫生团队是否决定反对以及许可委员会的决定结果；在申请人提交申请之前与其接触；访问拟议的/现有的许可场所以收集定制数据；牵头撰写当地的许可政策；以及与许可标准官员密切合作。
在与当地酒类销售许可系统相关的六类公共卫生团队活动中，公共卫生团队的实践各不相同，一些公共卫生团队在参与更具创新性或密集性的活动方面表现突出。尽管该系统存在局限性，但所确定的例子对于为许多人来说仍是相对较新的工作领域的公共卫生团队实践具有参考价值。纳入来自英格兰和苏格兰以及多个公共卫生团队的例子将促进公共卫生团队之间思想和实践的交叉融合。
本文介绍了由国家卫生与保健研究机构（NIHR）公共卫生研究计划资助的独立研究，资助编号为15/129/11。
