New survey findings from the Royal College of Physicians reveal the significant toll alcohol dependence continues to have on patient health and recovery amid new calls for urgent government action on alcohol-related harms.
The second RCP member snapshot survey of 2025, conducted between 2-14 June, asked about doctors’ experiences of seeing people with obesity, smoking or alcohol related problems and their impacts on patients and clinical treatment.
The findings from these questions reveal alcohol continues to affect and worsen health, with one in four (25%) physicians saying at least half of their average caseload was made up of patients whose conditions have been caused or exacerbated by alcohol dependence (474 respondents).
Of the 474 respondents, 60 (13%) said it was about half of their caseload, 46 (10%) said more than half and 13 (3%) said almost all. 246 (52%) said it was less than half of their average caseload, 103 (22%) said very few and only 5 (1.1%) respondents said none.
Almost half (48%) of responding physicians (471 respondents) reported seeing no change in the number of patients with alcohol dependence in the past 5 years. Over a third (36%) said they’d seen an increase and only 9% said the number had decreased.
When asked about the impacts on their patients, 46% said that recovery from medical treatment has been affected by alcohol, 41% that there were complications during treatment, 40% that treatment was not as effective and 28% that patients were unable to access certain treatments due to alcohol dependence and its effects (483 respondents).
The new findings have been published to mark Alcohol Awareness Week, and come as MPs prepare to debate Alcohol and Cancer in a Westminster Hall Debate led by Cat Smith MP.
As a founding member of the Alcohol Health Alliance (AHA), the RCP is backing the AHA call for a comprehensive National Alcohol Strategy for England, urging the government to follow the well-established WHO best buy and quick buy policies for non-communicable disease including alcohol by strengthening marketing restrictions and implement and review minimum unit pricing policies in England.
Dr Mumtaz Patel, president of the Royal College of Physicians, said: “These findings confirm what physicians are experiencing every day – alcohol related problems are a constant and serious factor in poor health outcomes. It’s not only contributing to the onset of illness but also making it harder for patients to recover and benefit from treatment. This affects the most deprived populations disproportionately.
“As doctors, we treat the consequences of poor health, but we urgently need bold government action on prevention. A national alcohol strategy is essential. While we were pleased to see commitment on new standards for alcohol labelling in the 10-Year Health Plan so that people understand the risks, this alone is not enough. The RCP is backing the call for stricter marketing rules to protect vulnerable groups and minimum unit pricing to curb the availability of cheap, harmful alcohol. These are tried-and-tested interventions that can save lives, reduce pressure on the NHS, and improve the nation’s health.”
Professor Sir Ian Gilmore, special adviser on alcohol at the Royal College of Physicians and chair of the Alcohol Health Alliance, said: "This excellent survey carries a stark warning to the Government to up its game on the prevention of alcohol harm. Plans to regulate labelling are welcome, but they must be backed by the most effective policies with the strongest evidence — tackling price, availability and marketing: the WHO's 'best buys' to reduce the harm from the nation's favourite drug."
- Between 2-14 June 2025, the RCP carried out its second member snapshot survey of 2025. It included questions to gather insights into physicians’ experiences of seeing modifiable risk factors like smoking, alcohol use and obesity among their patients. The full findings are available here.
- The RCP’s snapshot survey showed that 94% of the 516 physicians who responded said they saw patients with medical conditions caused or exacerbated by smoking, obesity or alcohol dependence.
- Respondents were physicians from a range of specialties, including acute internal medicine, respiratory, cardiology, geriatric medicine, palliative medicine and neurology. The largest specialties were represented more than the smallest. The majority of respondents were substantive NHS consultants.