How to use these guidelines

How to navigate, search and print the UK clinical guidelines for alcohol treatment.

How the guidelines are organised

These guidelines are organised into 2 parts.

Part 1 covers chapters 1 to 12. It includes guidance on the core elements of alcohol treatment. All these chapters are relevant for practitioners who work in specialist alcohol treatment services or who provide specialist alcohol treatment in other settings.

Part 2 covers chapters 13 to 27. It includes guidance for providing the core elements of alcohol treatment in specific settings and for specific populations. Practitioners should use the guidance relevant to the settings and populations they work in or with.

Chapter 1 summarises the main themes identified by the experts through experience group during the development of the guidelines. Chapter 2 summarises the main principles of care that underpin alcohol treatment. Each of the remaining chapters (3 to 27) begins with a summary of the main points contained in that chapter.

How to navigate the guidelines

To navigate the guidelines, you can browse each named chapter individually from the contents page or search for topics using the search bar at the top of the manual. Search results show which chapters contain your search term.

You can also search within chapters to find the words or topics you are looking for guidance on. To bring up the find bar, we recommend using the keyboard shortcuts:

  • Ctrl + F (if you’re using a PC)
  • Command (⌘) + F (if you’re using a Mac)

For mobile devices (like phones or tablets), use your web browser’s ‘Find in page’ or ‘Find on page’ function, generally available through the settings or additional options menu.

How to print or save the guidelines

If you need to print or save (download) pages as a PDF document, follow these steps:

  1. Select the ‘Print this page’ button at the bottom of the page. You can also use the shortcut ‘Ctrl + P’ (in PC web browsers).

  2. In the print window, choose ‘Save as PDF’ or ‘Microsoft Print to PDF’ as your printer.

  3. Select ‘More settings’ if you want to change the paper size, print quality or access other options.

  4. Select ‘Save’ or ‘Print’.

  5. If you select ‘Save’, choose where to save the file on your computer.

The exact steps may vary depending on your browser or operating system, but the process will be similar.

The PDF will include the content of the current page only. If you need to print multiple pages, you’ll need to print or save each one separately.

The PDF version may look slightly different from what you see on screen.