Cut needless drunk A&E admissions to ease winter pressures

Posted by GLA Conservatives in Opinion   Share2015

Jan
14

We need to urgently reduce needless admissions if we are to relieve the current pressure on London’s A&E departments. Getting too drunk is no excuse for wasting our health resources, especially when each A&E visit costs the taxpayer over £200. We should remove drunks from our A&Es in London by using specially built sobering facilities, such as Alcohol Recovery Centres and Booze Buses, as suggested in the recent report On the Wagon. Recovery centres provide a place for the intoxicated to sober-up, and booze buses help treat drunken patients on-the-go, both allowing these patients to avoid emergency departments altogether, if they have no other medical complications. With 7% of all emergency callouts being alcohol related this practical measure could lift the massive burden on A&Es and save over £40 million every year. It’s common sense.