As if it hasn't enough problems, Simon Stevens, the Chief Executive of NHS England, recently suggested that NHS will soon stand for 'National Hangover Service'.
He said that in winter, at the very time when people are more vulnerable to illness, drunks are having to be gathered from the streets in huge numbers, and transporting them by ambulance is stretching the service to the limit. Those drunks are no doubt the same ones who moan about the NHS being under-funded.
Why people, who have drunk themselves into a stupor, are taken to A & E, I have no idea; an easily sluice-able over-night holding pen/cell would be much more appropriate (with a nightly charge of £200, a packet of plasters at £50, strong coffee at £20 per cup, and delivery by ambulance at £50 per mile).
Seriously bad drunken behaviour, or simple unconsciousness, seems to be the regular 'aim' of a good night out these days. The slightest excuse for excess sees streets awash with vomit, accompanied by violent and abusive posturing. Rape, or at least unwanted sexual activity, is also common.
We've possibly all been a bit 'drunk' a few times in our lives, and in our youth possibly even slightly misbehaved, but going out with the intention of getting paralytic is a relatively recent phenomenon; it's bragged about, and fulfilled, and the emergency services are then expect to clear-up the mess.
We live in strange times, and the NHS takes much of the fall-out.
p.s. On the subject of A & E, I heard a woman saying recently that she'd been shocked to see her local department filled with people with suitcases, who'd come directly from the airport. None of them could speak a word of English; except being able to say "To A & E please" to the taxi driver. Quite worrying.
I like your idea of an overnight pen Cro.
ReplyDeleteI don't know why they're dumped in A & E if they're not ill. Self inflicted drunkenness requires a cage, just to stop them making idiots of themselves.
DeleteWe call it the "Drunk Tank" over here!
DeleteThe drinking part is not that new. When I was a teenager it was what people did. They thought it was fun... The youngesters drink at home before they go out now and dont leave which ever house they are in until about 11pm. This is due to the drinks being expensive in pubs and clubs now. although the pubs dont have a closing time now. When I was younger they still stopped at 11 and then you went off to a licenced club where you paid to get in. Now they pay to get into a pub that doesnt shut and you cant move. You can blame Labour for changing it to 24 hour drinking.
ReplyDeleteIs it cold there?
4C this morning, with a thin mist which will probably linger all day.
ReplyDeleteI don't remember ever going out with the aim of getting pissed. We simply went out to have a few beers. I'm sure that drinking culture has changed since I was a student, but looking at certain Hogarth cartoons, I wonder!
I got drunk once in my twenties. Never ever did it again!
ReplyDeleteYou devil!
DeleteWhat was it like? I have never tried it.
DeleteThe Drunk Tank would be good IF the police - or management group - would not be sued by the 'family' whose 'loved one' died choking on their own vomit.
ReplyDeleteThere'd be a sign on the cell door 'No Litigation allowed'.
DeleteIt's a sad state of affairs all round.
ReplyDeleteThe great unwashed don't think they've had a good time unless they were so drunk that they can't remember it and the rest of us pick up the bill for the "fear of litigation" fuelled care of them afterwards.
Maybe if they had to walk home and fall into a ditch to sober up on the way they wouldn't do it so often. Perhaps the answer is a penalty of a shift in A&E cleaning up other people's vomit.
I think that would have to be Day 2.
DeleteProblem of people coming to A and E from an airport is increasing. NHS is a known softie, we sadly very, very rarely bill people from other countries for treatment.
ReplyDeleteWe really have little idea at a local level how to cost treatment and care as it never done. Time this changed me thinks.
This makes me think that the NHS is actually OVER-funded, rather than UNDER. There is so much unbelievable waste that, if sorted, would amount to Billions. They could start with health tourism.
DeleteWe have no way to cost treatment at all!. I work in NHS as a nurse, have no idea what a bandage or care costs, as it should be!. If you need it you get it!.But I hate health tourists as they know chances are free!,
DeleteI'm sure you are correct Cro and that there is a completely different culture since our student days.
ReplyDeleteLike Vera I was also a devil once although I hadn't reached my 20s. I remember being in one pub and then in the next but not the journey in between. That loss of time scared me so much that I never drank to that extent again. Having said that my alcohol unit per week consumption now is far in excess of what it was then.
I don't think I've ever been 'paralytic'; merry plenty of times, but never fighting drunk. I'm more of a 'fall asleep' type.
DeleteOur drunk driving laws have made most people think twice before taking that one more drink. However, there are always idiots and many tragic stories. Too much alcohol never leads to good outcomes. I enjoy my glass of wine in the evening but aging has made me vulnerable to nasty effects the next morning if I refill my glass, so I don't.
ReplyDeleteThese are usually students who probably don't live too far from the 100's of city centre pubs they frequent. Cars would be an unnecessary luxury.
DeleteLast time I was in hospital (only an overnight stay I am glad to say) the bed next to me was occupied by a drunk young woman = they just tipped her on the bed on her side, covered her up and left her. She was still asleep when I left n ext morning - I was cross because I would have given her a good telling off had she been awake.
ReplyDeleteFrankly I find that appalling. They should either be left alone (where they dropped), or locked-up. A hospital bed is not the place.
DeleteIt does sound like a bad idea. Too much coddling--and I hardly ever say that because I'm very hands on and accepting. But people should know that when they go out and drink to excess that there will be personal consequences.
ReplyDeleteI agree. It's a terrible waste of time and money, which the NHS cannot afford.
DeleteRe: A&E, this has apparently been happening in France, specifically Marseilles, for quite some time. Re: cheap booze and drunkenness, well yes quite. My mother remembers a time when only the very rich and the desperate in the UK were drunk, because no-one else could afford it. Here in Canada, where it's six pounds a pint most of the time and public drunkenness is punishable with a fine and/or a night in the cells, I have never yet seen someone other than the homeless openly drunk on the streets - and I have been coming to this country since 1978.
ReplyDeleteIn the UK, Public Drunkenness is almost rewarded; and it's never mentioned by politicians. Maybe they don't want to upset the Tax revenue.
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