2013 Press Releases
Award for UCC approach to alcohol
UCC Health Matters has swept the board at the Irish Healthcare Awards, winning the Best Public Health Initiative category and the prestigious overall award, An Duais Mhór for its work around alcohol.
Seeing off 116 other entries from various healthcare organisations, hospitals, community and patient groups, the win is recognition of the quality of the efforts being undertaken in UCC to tackle alcohol-related harm.
Speaking at the awards, Dr Michael Byrne, Head of the Student Health Department UCC and coordinator of UCC Health Matters, said how delighted he was to accept the awards on behalf of UCC. "Addressing the issue of alcohol related harm is a difficult space to occupy, especially for a University, where the habits of many of our students are already unfortunately well established by the time they reach college, and where the cultural attitudes of the wider community towards alcohol are often harmful. I applaud the University senior management for having the courage to support our initiatives to try to reduce alcohol related harm amongst our students. The Student leadership also deserves great credit for unequivocally identifying the risks associated with harmful patterns of alcohol use, and for taking practical measures to keep our students safe when they are out at night."
UCC's comprehensive alcohol action plan, which was initially developed in 2010 and has been revised over the past three years, currently identifies five key strategy areas with 20 specific action points, including strategies to inform and educate the students and train front-line support and academic staff on the adverse consequences of harmful alcohol consumption. Over the three years, more than 10,000 UCC students have completed an online alcohol educational and behavioural change module called e-PUBUCC. A Student Community Support team is out on the streets at night during key times of the year where students may be at increased risk.
"It is fantastic to get recognition for the work already underway in UCC in this area, and to win the awards ahead of such prestigious organisations and institutions is a real bonus”, Dr Byrne went on to say. “This is not a time for self-congratulation however; we know that there continues to be enormous challenges in addressing the harm alcohol does in our society and amongst our students. Indeed it may not be possible to ever fully achieve the goals and objectives set out in the action plan. What is important and worthwhile however is that these challenges have been identified by UCC as worth taking on; that very fact may be the most important achievement of all".