Doctors and other health professionals in the UK have been requested to automatically ask patients whether they have gambling-related issues when asking questions about alcohol consumption, smoking and the use of other substances.

The National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) has added gambling to its recommended guidelines for health professionals.

It has told care practitioners to consider asking people about gambling even if they have no obvious risk factors for gambling-related harm.

It says health professionals should ask about potential gambling harms if patients present in any setting with a mental health problem or concern, “because they may be at increased risk of gambling-related harm.”

The questions should also be asked if patients reveal that they have financial concerns or that there is a history of gambling that harms or alcohol abuse or dependence.

It is the first time that NICE has issued a guideline on the topic of gambling.

The UK Gambling Commission now uses its Gambling Survey for Great Britain to measure rates of gambling harm.

Last July, the survey found that 2.5 per cent of respondents had a Problem Gambling Severity Index (PGSI) score of eight or more, although Professor Patrick Sturgis, who has advised the UK regulator on its survey, insisted that the results may overstate the prevalence of gambling harms in the country.

NICE has recommended healthcare professionals to ask people who have concerns about gambling to use the NHS questionnaire to assess their level of potential problem gambling. The NHS was previously the key source of stats for measuring problem gambling in the UK.

The guidance less stringently asks practitioners to consider asking about gambling if someone has recently left home for the first time or because of their current or past occupation, for example armed forces personnel, veterans, people working in the gambling or financial sector and sports professionals.