U.K. report warns of drinking culture
Britain’s taxpayer-funded health care spends $4.4B treating patients for alcohol-related problems

By The Associated Press

Published: January 3, 2010

LONDON — Just as Britons brew black coffee to cope with holiday hangovers, they are also digesting a new report that warns that the country’s notorious culture of drinking alcohol is putting an unacceptable strain on hospitals and medical staff.

The cash-strapped National Health Service — the U.K.’s taxpayer-funded medical system — now spends $4.4 billion a year treating patients for drink-related problems, double the amount five years ago, the report said. Total funding for the health care system is currently around $162 billion a year.

The report — published by the NHS Confederation, a health care providers organization, and the Royal College of Physicians, which represents doctors — warns that about 10.5 million adults in Britain drink above sensible limits, and 1.1 million people have some form of alcohol addiction. The government currently recommends that men should not drink more than three or four units of alcohol a day, and recommends women should not drink more than two or three. A small glass of wine or beer has just over one unit.

One study at a hospital in Leeds, in northeast England, found that one-fifth of all emergency room admissions over four months were for conditions related to alcohol, the report said.

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 alcohol.

"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.

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.

The British government’s top medical adviser suggested raising the price of alcohol earlier this year to curb the country’s binge-drinking culture, and the government has promised to launch public awareness campaigns to inform about the dangers of alcohol.