Published 3 August 2009, doi:10.1136/bmj.b3125
Cite this as: BMJ 2009;339:b3125

News

NHS still failing to tackle alcohol misuse despite rise in admissions

Rebecca Coombes

1 London

The first 150 words of the full text of this article appear below.

Local health services are failing to tackle alcohol harm despite a sharp climb in related hospital admissions, MPs warned this week. Reducing Alcohol Harm, a report by the UK House of Commons public accounts committee, also found the government’s approach to the United Kingdom’s growing alcohol problem muddled and uncoordinated.

Alcohol misuse costs the NHS an estimated £2.7bn ({euro}3.2bn; $4.5bn) a year. In 2006-7 there were some 811 000 alcohol related hospital admissions, representing a 71% rise in four years. However, primary care trusts are free to decide for themselves how much to spend on services to tackle alcohol harm. The report found that many trusts did not even know what they spent on such services, and throughout England there is little correlation between need and expenditure.

The picture contrasts sharply with services for drug misuse: £197 is spent on the average dependent drinker for specialist treatment, compared . . . [Full text of this article]


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