The Health Select Committee recently called for a radical overhaul of alcohol policy, including minimum pricing. The Committee’s report came just a week after the NHS Confederation and Royal College of Physicians published a briefing which set out the cost to the NHS of treating alcohol-related conditions and the major impact on ambulance services of handling alcohol-related incidents.
Over 6 per cent of calls to London ambulances are alcohol-related incidents. This is approximately 60,000 calls a year. Ambulance services are increasingly looking at alternatives to taking patients with alcohol-related conditions to A&E, which may not always be the most appropriate place.
The NHS Confederation's director of policy, Nigel Edwards, said the GBP2.7 billion healthcare bill for Britain's drinking was made up largely of the cost of ambulance services, treatment and drugs for people who make themselves sick or injure themselves by drinking too much.
For more information read the briefing document 'Too much of the hard stuff: what alcohol costs the NHS'.
Read more on the NHS Confederation latest news article.