The drink problem

Alcohol related admissions to A & E departments in hospitals are still increasing.

In a written parliamentary answer to a Conservative question, it has emerged that such cases are increasing. They have risen by 33 per cent between 2004/05 and 2007/08, that is from 337,549 to 448,813, or about 925 per day to about 1,230.

Bearing in mind that the bulk of these cases arise on Friday and Saturday evenings, it does not require much imagination to realise that in some areas there will be multiple admissions then.

The pattern of increase is not even.

The most rapid increase was at Kettering General Hospital, with an increase from 686 to 2,150, - an increase of over 213%, while Maidstone and Tunbridge Wells had an increase from 1,192 to 3,584, Burton Hospitals Trust from 738 to 1612, and Bournemouth & Christchurch from 623 to 1,355.

Patently the present policies on alcohol are not working!

The government will be reluctant to abolish their 24 hours drinking culture, as this would involve a loss of face, but they must analyse the returns from the police and from hospitals to see what can be learned.

The cheapness of drink, both in pub promotions and also from supermarkets, is clearly a factor. Medical experts have been urging for several months that a minimum tax per unit of alcohol be imposed. This would have the effect of deterring the consumption of the most intoxicating drinks.
It would also have the effect of equalising tax burden between pubs and supermarkets.

The traditional argument for high excise taxes on strong drinks was partly to deter over-consumption, even if the main objects was government revenue. We now have a major problem, of young people going out after consuming too much and then spending too many hours consuming even more. We also have the heavy cost on the NHS both in A & E treatment of injuries, and also the growing problem of quite avoidable liver disease among relatively young people.