One in ten hospital patients dependent on alcohol
Findings suggest the country’s drink problem is far worse than had been assumed
One in five people at hospital in the UK are drinking at harmful levels and one in ten are alcohol-dependent, according to new research.
The study by King's College London, which examined data from 124 earlier studies involving more than 1.6 million people, found that harmful alcohol use is ten times higher in hospital inpatients compared with the general UK population, and alcohol dependency is eight times higher.
The Daily Telegraph says alcohol-related conditions had previously been estimated to cost the NHS around £3.5bn pounds a year but the new findings suggest Britain’s alcohol problem is “far greater than had been assumed”.
Subscribe to The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.
Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
The Daily Mail adds that the findings suggest that treating patients' drinking problems would “relieve the burden on the NHS”.
The report's authors are calling for universal screening in hospitals to provide support to patients abusing alcohol. They also said staff should be given specialist training in dealing with patients who are drink-dependent.
Lead researcher Dr Emmert Roberts, from the Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology and Neuroscience at King's College London, said: “Many doctors are aware that alcohol-related conditions are common among hospital inpatients, but our results suggest the problem is much bigger than anecdotally assumed.
“Dedicated inpatient alcohol care teams are needed to ensure this widespread problem is being addressed, particularly in the context of diminishing numbers of specialist community alcohol services in the UK.”
Experts say alcohol services in the NHS and the community have been cut dramatically. “These numbers are shocking: the number of beds used, the cost to the NHS, the sheer number of people suffering as a result of alcohol,” said Dr Richard Piper, the chief executive of Alcohol Change UK, the campaign group behind Dry January.
The World Cancer Research Fund called for broader changes. A spokesperson said: “We have a social culture in the UK which can be very focused on alcohol. We need the government to empower people to drink less by making our daily environments healthier and tackling this drinking culture, as information alone won’t lead to large scale change in behaviours.”
The NHS England chief executive, Simon Stevens, said: “Alcohol dependence can devastate families with the NHS often left to pick up the pieces, yet the right support can save lives.”
The NHS advises that men and women drink no more than 14 units per week spread over at least three days.
Sign up for Today's Best Articles in your inbox
A free daily email with the biggest news stories of the day – and the best features from TheWeek.com
-
The Pentagon faces an uncertain future with Trump
Talking Point The president-elect has nominated conservative commentator Pete Hegseth to lead the Defense Department
By Justin Klawans, The Week US Published
-
This is what you should know about State Department travel advisories and warnings
In Depth Stay safe on your international adventures
By Catherine Garcia, The Week US Published
-
'All Tyson-Paul promised was spectacle and, in the end, that's all we got'
Instant Opinion Opinion, comment and editorials of the day
By Justin Klawans, The Week US Published
-
India's toxic alcohol problem
Under the Radar Bootleggers add lethal methanol to illegal liquor to cheaply increase potency, leading to widespread casualties
By Harriet Marsden, The Week UK Published
-
Cannabis tops alcohol in daily US consumption
Speed Read For the first time in U.S. history, daily cannabis users have outpaced daily drinkers
By Rafi Schwartz, The Week US Published
-
Pros and cons of giving up alcohol
Pros and Cons Staying off the booze has health benefits but many struggle with the social downsides
By The Week Staff Published
-
Neanderthal gene ‘caused up to a million Covid deaths’
Speed Read Genetic tweak found in one in six Britons means cells in the lungs are slower to launch defences
By The Week Staff Published
-
Legalising assisted dying: a complex, fraught and ‘necessary’ debate
Speed Read The Assisted Dying Bill – which would allow doctors to assist in the deaths of terminally ill patients – has relevance for ‘millions’
By The Week Staff Last updated
-
Vaccinating children: it’s decision time for the health secretary as kids return to school
Speed Read Sajid Javid readying NHS England to roll out jab for children over 12, amid fears infections will rocket
By The Week Staff Last updated
-
‘Vaccination blunts, but does not defeat’: exploring Israel’s fourth Covid wave
Speed Read Two months ago, face masks were consigned to bins. Now the country is in a ‘unique moment of epidemiological doubt’
By The Week Staff Published
-
Thousands told to self-isolate in Covid app pinging error, claims Whitehall whistleblower
Speed Read Source says Matt Hancock was privately told of the issue shortly before he resigned as health secretary
By The Week Staff Published