Amanda Crook talks to two men who every day deal with the health impacts of excessive boozing - and both support minimum pricing ...
EACH morning when Andy Whitfield goes to work he speaks to a handful of people who got so drunk they had to spent the night in hospital.
Wythenshawe Hospital employs the specialist alcohol liaison and two colleagues to tackle the problem drinkers who are in and out of A&E.
All inpatients are asked about their drinking habits and anyone drinking hazardous levels is offered support – with up to six counselling sessions.
Research suggest one in every eight heavy drinkers Andy speaks to will cut down significantly.
His job makes financial sense. Studies show six per cent of hospital beds are filled with people there because of alcohol – whether through drunken accidents or more serious long-term conditions.
And the region’s A&E units bear the brunt of the problem with 35 per cent of attendances linked to alcohol, rising to 70 per cent between midnight and 5am on Friday and Saturday.
Most of the people he sees are not physically dependent on alcohol – although there are a few and he can refer them to physical detox plans. Most people manage to cut down successfully with a little help.
Andy said: “The real aim of the project is to reduce A&E attendances. When I started there were some people we would see almost every day. We have had our successes even with these patients and that is very satisfying.
“It is a wake-up call to people when they come round in hospital because they have drunk so heavily they have put themselves at risk the day before.
“If people come in on their own we have to be very careful. Sometimes we have to admit them for observation for their own safety. They are too intoxicated to talk that night but the following morning is often a good time.
“Most people think the people we see are older blokes but we see everyone from 16 upwards, from all walks of life and all ethnic backgrounds.
“Some people are physically dependent on alcohol in their 20s and other times we see very successful people who are still holding down important jobs.”
Andy believes the plans by Greater Manchester councils to impose a minimum alcohol price on shops could help. He says most people he sees drink at home – often preloading with cheap booze before going out.
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Another medic who supports the pricing initiative is Martin Prince, liver specialist at the Manchester Royal Infirmary.
He sees people who have serious health problems as a result of drink. The men he treats consume more than 35 units a week – the equivalent of two and a half pints a night, four pints five nights a week or 10 pints a couple of days a week. Or a bottle of strong wine each night.
Many get through more than 100 units a week.
Some come to him through A&E with jaundice or bloated stomach. Others have no symptoms but come after routine blood tests reveal liver problems.
All the people Dr Prince sees are advised to stop drinking and in 90 per cent of cases this can halt liver problems. The other 10 per cent need a liver transplant.
He said: “People thinking about alcoholic liver disease think of Shameless and Frank Gallagher and we do get people like that – but we get all kinds.
“There is not a department in hospital that does not see problems related to alcohol, from newborns with fetal alcohol syndrome to older people who have fallen after a couple of drinks.”
And Manchester is especially hard hit by drinking. It has the second highest proportion of people in the country claiming incapacity benefit because of alcohol and the third highest number of people admitted to hospital because of ‘alcohol-related harm’.
Dr Price says he would support the alcohol pricing plans ‘100 per cent’.
He said: “Unfortunately the only thing that is shown to have an impact on consumption is pricing. We can change behaviour very quickly with legislation
“It is not a matter of punishing people for drinking and it would be so little money for people drinking below hazardous levels.
“I do not want to stop people drinking. I drink, so do most liver specialists but I don’t know any people who have worked in this field and seen the impact of hazardous drinking who drinks to excess themselves.
“We have an opportunity here to actually make a huge, important difference and put Manchester on the map for a very good public health reason.”
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Yet more propaganda, where is the evidence that a minimum charge of 50p per unit will reduce consumption?
Quote:
"Waking up drunk in hospital"
Those doctors & nurses on the night shift - Tell me about it!
Why is drinking deemed socially acceptable and yet smoking isn;t, when was the last time you heard about someone beating a man half to death because he had smoked 20 Lambert and Butler.
Can we have at least one day of Abstinence...I'm not referring to drinking alcohol,but rather this continuing MEN theme...
There are more early deaths and more people in hospital through eating cr*p. Look at the amount of unhealthy, kebab, pizza, fatburger and chipshops on any High Street. Obesity, strokes, heart disease, cancer and many more illnesses are linked to bad diet. Any signs of curbing these by making them financially prohibitive? Moderate drinking is a proven health booster. This is a tax-raising ploy that will not work and will seriously affect businesses across Greater Manchester. (Going to Blackpool mate? Pop into Asda and pick us up 3 bottles of wine for a tenner will you?)
YAWN.
Change the record, MEN.
I'd rather idiots who wake up in hospital drunk were charged. I don't see why sensible drinkers, who are in the majority should be penalised. It's just another stealth tax. I assume when this has gone ahead the next crusade will be the junk food tax?
Governments don't seem to understand just adding taxes to problems don't make them go away.
MEN Editor please take note that this "White noise" propaganda will not brainwash people into believing that the price fixing of alcoholic drinks is a good idea.
People have choices and they should not be manipulated by the evangelical ideals of a few local government drones.
They have far more pressing matters to deal with and should address them before toying with things that are none of their business.
Have a word with yourselves Evening News would you please? You're supposed to be on the side of the people. You're not supposed to be the supportive mouthpiece for the NHS or the Council or the Government.
Yes people end up in hospital because of alcohol related illness but guess what? THEY ALSO PAY TAX. Why don't you print a story about how much more the Government gets in alcohol tax compared to the amount spent on treatment. The tax vs cost to the NHS of smoking is in the smokers favour to the tune of £3billion to £5billion every year. I'll bet the tax versus cost of alcohol to the NHS has similar figures.
Matt, search the academic literature, the evidence is overwhelming of an inverse relationship between alochol price and consumption. There are any number of authoritative studies.
MEN - just because you repeat an idea often enough, doesn't make it legal...
The case brought by Austria, France and Ireland and the ruling ont he 4th March 2010 proves that mimimun pricing cannot be legally done.
http://lexisweb.co.uk/groups/company_commercial/blog/archive/2010/3/19/14343.aspx
It would be far more productive to argue for an across the board tax increase on alcohol across the Country. AGMA are wasting taxpayers cash in these austere times chasing an illegal idea which is destined to fall at the first hurdle.
I've already taken the advice and changed my lifestyle. I now have a drink only 3 days out of 7, reducing from 45 to 30 of the contrived units each week I don't need to pay more for it. Leave me alone.
Where is the evidence that one in eight heavy drinkers will cut down after speaking to one of these guys? And what does that even mean? Theywill cut down for a week? A year? A day?
This entire piece has been so hurriedly scribbled down so as to support a minimum charge that it is ill informed in a number of places, to the point of being dangerous to somebody who made need more help than a two week home detox.
"Most of the people he sees are not physically dependent on alcohol – although there are a few and he can refer them to physical detox plans. Most people manage to cut down successfully with a little help."
Which is like saying that most people with a Heroin habit can sucesfully cut down with a little help. What utter, misleading and dagerous dross. If a person is so far gone along the path of alcoholism that they require a phsysical detox, then NO amount of alcohol can ever again be safely taken.
This piece seems to be promoting a minimum charge on alcohol, which I would agree with as we, as a nation, are highly irresponsible drinkers - while at the same time suggesting that no serious measures outside of a minimum charge on alcohol and a bit of a chinwag with a doctor - are that is needed to help the alcoholically afflicted become safe and free from the dangers of their condition.
It is not unuusal for the medical proefssion to bury its head in the sand of course. In Australia,the NHS actively promote Alcoholics Anonymous as an organisation which for 80 years has produced results baffling to the medical establishment in its treatment of this condition. Here in the UK a GP will suggest to a person who CANNOT stop drinking, even at the point of death an insanity, that they try 'cutting down'.
This article shows all the mis-understanding of the alcoholic condition, in it's haste to promote a mimumum charge for whatever reason, that is frightening. It is a shoddy and misleading piece of work at best and completely negligent at worst. i dont exect to see this in print, but perhaps somebody at the MEN could take these things into account when boradcasting a message like this to millions of people.
Yet more fascist activity by interfering busy bodies in the health authorities.
Healthy food is cheap? but you cannot just heat it up ,you need to cook it that is why people eat so much garbage.Fast food isnt cheap .Guy Incognito, the same goes for booze when its cheap (drink as much as you can).
instead of raising the price of booze they should have a big metal container stuck in the middle of every town and city, and any one too drunk to make their way home should be locked inside until the next day when they have sobered up.think how many will admit the people that they woke up un a metal tank because they got drunk
who's going to get the extra money from the sales on the ale, the retailers, Tax man or council, surely this would be illegal. and how would it stand under the EU laws (price fixing) as they say we are in the EU but don't seem to get any benefits from it on the tax front. Tesco £10 24 cans Foster maximum 3 cases per customer !! plus other variety's I'll drink to that, in the comfort of my home no trouble brewing there unless i spill it on the new laminate LOL.
If they are really serious about stemming the 'evil' drink. Why not shut all the pubs, including the ones in the Houses of Parliament, close the off licences. And stop the Supermarkets selling booze. Then we can be an even more miserable, but sober population. Price has got very little to do with alcohol consumption; it’s about state of mind. Throughout the centuries he British have always been bad drunks. Maybe we should be getting to the bottom of why people in this country have to drink to excess.
It might relate to the fact, that everything that people regard as a pleasure, is frowned upon, as if it’s a 'sin' to enjoy yourself. So we have to tax it.
The next target will probably be food, kebabs - lethal, pizzas – killers. Don’t even mention Pot Noodles, oh!, we can always eat organic vegetables, no we can’t, because we can’t afford them, because they’ve been taxed to prevent us eating too many. Too much methane produced, you see, causes global warming, etc, etc...
Alcohol destroys people, it destroys families, it is way more dangerous and destructive than heroin. People should be free to make their choices but the issue here is, people are also free to exploit by selling addictive drugs legally and it is this issue the minimum pricing is aimed at, but it won't work.
There is a simple yet effective solution, education! It should be stressed that alcohol is highly addictive and poisonous, as has happened with smoking over the years.
We're obviously in for a week of this 'Booze Britain' campaign, so what's tomorrow's headline ?
"Alcohol responsible for current economic crisis - investment bankers were all drunk"
Get over yourselves, MEN.
M.E.N WHAT IS YOUR PROBLEM ...........THIS IS BECOMING AN OBSESION WITH YOU....NEXT YOU WILL BE PAYING FOR PEOPLE TO GET DRUNK AND GO CAUSING MAYHEM ON THE STREETS ...JUST TO PROVE A POINT.......please approve this comment
What percentage of the drinking population is actually involved in and responsible for the sort of behaviour which 'entltles' the Holy Joes to their moral indiganation and all their "for-your-own-good" propaganda which is being forced down our throats? Do tell!! What actual percentage of the population isn't capable of going out for a drink and returning home again without throwing up in the street; having a fight; coming to the attention of the Police;needing an ambulance; draining the NHS of its resources; our choking on its own vomit?
If you're going to keep on endlessly nagging us, then let's see some actual statistics - not your opinions dressed up as facts. Treat us like adults - not naughty school-children who are expected to change their ways if the threat of withholding the end of term panto is held up before them.
ar
Increasing the price of beer will not stop the drunken and loutish behavior in our cities at night. The answer is to charge them with the full cost of their visit to the police ststion or hospital,this to include call out charge, time at the incident, transport and hospitality at the chosen venue and administration costs, this could be in excess of £1000 a visit, a real incentive not to over indulge. This would let the millions who drink moderately to still enjoy the cheap offers.
Pete Marlor
We seem to be back in the Victorian temperance campaigns, thanks to the MEN.
It`s an old cliche but so so true..people won`t live any longer if the Nanny State succeeds in its interference, but by God it will seem longer...
There are some great offers on alcohol at the moment. I'm going to all the shops and panic buying it all now before the price goes up. I should have enough to last me through the summer.