I attended the All-Party Parliamentary Health Group meeting recently. The subject – Public Health England: Improving the Nation's Health" featured some great presentations from colleagues from Public Health England, Jane Ellison MP Minister of State for Public Health and Cllr Jonathan McShane Cabinet Member for Health, Social Care and Culture London Borough of Hackney.

Many of the issues presented resonate, not surprisingly, with our own ambitions in EMAHSN.

The PHE board meeting in March included a Panel Discussion on alcohol. The invited panel of experts was led by Professor Sir Ian Gilmore. WHO has reviewed the evidence for alcohol harm reduction. Areas with the strongest evidence for interventions include pricing, availability controls, marketing controls, drink driving laws, treatment and screening plus advice.

Research estimates that nationally, alcohol misuse costs around £20bn through its health, crime and social impacts. Data from our own East Midlands region reinforces that it is a significant issue – for example there are around 9,000 alcohol related hospital admissions each year in our region. Rates of chronic liver disease have been increasing and a quarter of East Midlands' men and around 12.5% of women are drinking at harmful levels.

At the East Midlands Academic Health Science Network we are determined to work with partners to address issues that have the biggest impact on the health of our 4.5m residents. One of our key priorities for the year ahead is the 'scarred liver' project, which is being led by experts from Nottingham University and the University Hospitals of Nottingham NHS Trust. The initiative will focus on early detection of liver disease, and takes a targeted approach by identifying people most at risk, including those with high levels of alcohol consumption. I'll update you on the progress of this important project in future blog postings.

Martin Hindle, Independent Chair of the East Midlands Academic Health Science Network