Just a tipple!

The report on drinking problems during the early May bank holiday week-end by the think tank Policy Exchange makes sober reading.

They estimate that excess drinking during the week-end cost the NHS some £25 million. Between 2001 and 2007 the direct costs to the NHS virtually doubled from £1.47 billion to £2.7 billion annually.

In fact the problem now involves 7.6 million who are drinking to hazardous levels, of who 2.9 million are already showing evidence of harm to their health and 1.1 million who have some level of addiction. (A recent Department of Health estimates the number drinking to hazardous levels as 10 million, in England alone.)

The costs are increasing, the number of personal disasters at a pace. The Department of Health recently released a report suggesting that young people are increasingly part of the problem.

In the past six years the number of such alcohol-related hospital admissions for children has risen by more than a third. (Here admissions means for at least a one night stay, that is the more serious admissions, and omitting the numbers taken to A & E, treated and discharged.) In 2002/03 10,076 under eighteens were admitted. This figure rose to 14,501 in 2007/08.

The number of admissions of children aged under 10 approached 1,000 throughout the period.

Policy Exchange advocate that drunks who consume precious NHS resources through their own over-indulgence should be made to reimburse the costs of their emergency treatment.

They also recommend that duty charged should be changed to reflect that different levels of alcohol in different drinks. So beers with lower alcohol content would have a lower tax, and the more potent beers would have a higher tax. However this price incentive would run counter to some EU regulation.

Finally, currently the drunk are dealt with by the NHS, and Policy Exchange recommends that cautions and fines should be more frequently levied by the police, and compulsory attendance at alcohol education and awareness courses.