UK drinking culture strains UK’s health system, says report

A report warns that the United Kingdom’s drinking culture is costing the country’s health service £2.7 billion a year.

A report warns that the United Kingdom’s drinking culture is costing the country’s health service £2.7 billion a year.

A hard-hitting joint report issued on 1st January 2010 from the Royal College of Physicians and the NHS Confederation states that alcohol abuse costs the NHS more than £2.7 billion a year, twice as much as five years ago.

The Report also stated that rising levels of heavy drinking had created a crisis that will see a huge increase in related diseases in the next decade.

Professor Ian Gilmore, president of the Royal College of Physicians, said the National Health Service could not afford to continue treating alcohol-related problems at current levels, and that health-care providers had to be more proactive in preventing people from drinking too much.

‘The role of the NHS should not just be about treating the consequences of alcohol-related harm but also about active prevention, early intervention and working in partnership with services in local communities to raise awareness of alcohol-related harm,’ he said.

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

‘With only one in 18 people dependent on alcohol receiving treatment, and wide variation in the types of specialist services available, we know that more needs to be done to help identify and treat patients.

‘This report shows that not only are we drinking too much but that the cost to our health services is increasing,’ he added.

Kevin Barron, Chair of the House of Commons Health Select Committee, said that ministers could no longer ignore evidence of soaring rates of addiction, and warnings of the crippling costs of abuse on an already overstretched NHS.

‘Ministers need to be looking at other solutions than what they are already looking at,’ he said.

National statistics show a steady rise in the number of alcohol-related deaths that typically fell heavy drinkers in their 40s and 50s who have abused alcohol for decades. From 1991 to 2006, the number of such deaths more than doubled to 8,758.

In October 2009, another report also revealed the dramatic increase of deaths from chronic liver disease for men and women due to alcohol abuse.  The fourth annual Local Alcohol Profiles for England (LAPE) report showed the scale of the health problems caused by alcohol in England after 863,257 patients sought treatment for alcohol-related harm in 2007/08, an eight per cent increase from the previous year or an additional 176 admissions every day.

(See the CCFON report)