Scorecard for people in Guernsey to monitor their alcohol intake

Tuesday, 15 September 2026 12:40

By Euan Mahy

Every household will get a scratchcard which will reveal whether their alcohol consumption is at the recommended safe level.

The Health Improvement Commission is behind the initiative, which in public health terms is known as a brief intervention.

It is a way of making people re-assess unhealthy lifestyle habits.

Andrea Nightingale, the substance lead at the Commission, says alcohol intake is a problem on the island, which has a strong drinking culture:

"We find it really difficult to get the message across about low risk drinking and the guidelines associated with it, and we thought this way it’s across every every household in the Island."

The Rethink Your Drink initiative is spurred by the 2023 Wellbeing survey which showed nearly one third of islanders drink at higher than recommended levels.

The idea is that people measure their drinks, add up the number and that will give a unit readout, but it relies on honesty over exactly how much alcohol a person consumes.

The current safe level, recommended by the Chief Medical Officer, is 14 units a week, which equates to six pints of lager or seven double measures of spirits.

In addition, it is recommended that people have a few days each week that are alcohol free.

Andrea Nightingale says drinking is less popular with teenagers and people in their 20s:

"It's that generation that's reducing their alcohol habit and are becoming much more health conscious."

She says the scratchcard is a simple way of assessing personal drinking levels:

"It's that interaction, you scratch away the number of units that you drink and you get your score at the end of it."

The Rethink Your Drink initiative is supported by Guernsey Post who are distributing the cards.

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