We’re dying for a drink – and the NHS is paying (From Worcester News)

We’re dying for a drink – and the NHS is paying

10:46am Wednesday 20th January 2010 in

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DRINKING may start as a harmless way to unwind in pubs, bars and clubs but can end up quite literally with blood and tears in A&E.

Yet dangerous levels of binge drinking are pretty much accepted as part and parcel of weekends even though the consequences for health can be catastrophic.

Binge drinking also puts an enormous strain on the NHS, taking up time and money which could be directed into other areas of healthcare.

Health chiefs in Worcestershire divide alcohol-related diseases into two categories – acute heavy drinking, say during a single day, which results in poisoning and injuries, either self-inflicted or inflicted on others; and chronic heavy drinking, which is drinking more than the safe limit over a long period. This increases the risk of high blood pressure, stroke, cancer, liver disease, mental health problems and a whole range of other long-term conditions.

Last week, Parliament’s health select committee estimated that a minimum price for alcohol could save more than 3,000 lives a year. It called for a rise in duty on spirits and white cider, mandatory health warnings on labels and stricter regulation of alcohol and advertising and promotion.

In Worcestershire, there are about 11,000 alcohol-related hospital admissions annually, with the overall cost of treatment rising to £25 million per year.

This at a time when the country is in the grip of a national recession and the coldest winter in almost 30 years is putting extra strain on public services.

In Worcestershire alone, there is a projected £60 million funding black hole by 2013/14 and picking up the bill for binge drinking is a new year hangover health chiefs could well do without.

The figures were released by NHS Worcestershire after a national report showed Britain’s growing culture of heavy drinking is placing an “unsustainable burden”

on the healthcare system, costing the NHS £2.7 billion a year.

The report, from the NHS Confederation and Royal College of Physicians, said the cost to the NHS of excessive drinking has doubled in the past five years.

It called for improvements to systems to identify, assess and treat patients with alcohol problems, but also said a wider change in society’s attitudes towards drink was needed.

Dr Richard Harling, director of public health for NHS Worcestershire, said: “This report shows yet again that our increasingly heavy drinking is damaging our health and placing a rising burden on health services.

“In Worcestershire, the NHS is investing in services to identify and help heavy drinkers. However as funding becomes ever tighter in the next few years we are going to need people to take greater responsibility for their own health.

“If we carry on spending more and more on alcohol-related diseases we will have less and less to spend on other health problems. The safe drinking limit is three to four units daily for men and two to three units for women – equivalent to one to two pints of beer for men and two small glasses of wine for women. By drinking safely you can live longer, look better and feel better.”

Chris Kowalik, spokesman for West Midlands Ambulance Service, said the trust did not keep a record of how many 999 calls were alcoholrelated, but, describing the new year celebrations in the region, he said: “There were quite a few cases where people had had a few drinks, fallen down and gone to sleep. In some cases, the ambulance service was called to wake people up.”

With temperatures falling below freezing in recent weeks, hypothermia can also therefore be added to the risks of a night out.

But the efforts of ambulance crews to save people from themselves isn’t always appreciated.

The West Midlands Ambulance Service recorded 104 physical assaults on staff between April last year and January this year, of which 22 (21 per cent) were directly as a result of alcohol. This does not include the verbal assaults in which alcohol plays a significant part.

Steve Barnett, chief executive of the NHS Confederation, which represents NHS managers, said alcohol was putting growing pressure on staff and services.

He said: “We hope this report helps to outline the scale of the problems facing the NHS and acts as a warning that if we carry on drinking in the way that we are currently, the bar bill will be paid in worse health and a health system struggling to cope.”

The report, entitled Too Much of the Hard Stuff: What Alcohol Costs the NHS, said better links between A&E, mental health, the community and ambulance teams would ease the burden caused by excessive drinking and could save as many as 1,000 bed days a year per hospital.

The NHS Confederation’s director of policy Nigel Edwards said the £2.7 billion healthcare bill for Britain’s drinking was made up largely of the cost of ambulance services, treatment and drugs for people who make themselves sick or injure themselves by drinking too much.

Mr Edwards said the Confederation would “probably”

back minimum pricing on alcohol in a bid to reduce problem drinking, as there was “good evidence” that cheap drink promotions produced behaviour problems.

He also said people who suspect they are drinking hazardously should see their GP.

A Department of Health spokesman said: “The Government is working harder than ever to reduce alcohol-related hospital admissions and to help those who regularly drink too much or are dependent on alcohol.

“We welcome this report from the NHS Confederation and the Royal College of Physicians. We agree the level of alcohol-related hospital admissions, crime, and deaths are still unacceptable. The department is providing primary care trusts with the support, tools and incentives to deliver alcohol services in their own areas effectively according to local needs.”