The burden of alcohol misuse on an inner-city general hospital

Alcohol consumption in the UK has been increasing steadily. We prospectivel y studied the burden on hospital services caused by overt alcohol misuse, i n an inner-city hospital in north-west England. All Accident & Emergency (A &E) patients were assessed to determine whether their hospital attendance w as alcohol-related, and whether this resulted in admission and/or generated new out-patient appointments. Over 2 months, 1915 patients attended A&E wi th alcohol-related problems, accounting for 12% of attendances; 50% were ag ed 18-39 years, and acute alcohol intoxication was the commonest presenting complaint. Overall, 6.2% of all hospital admissions were due to alcohol-re lated problems. Over 2800 new out-patient visits were likely to have been g enerated over an 18-month period from initial attendance with an alcohol-re lated problem, mostly for orthopaedic clinics, The burden placed by overt a lcohol-related problems on hospitals is enormous, both in terms of the emer gency and out-patient services. The implementation of education, screening and intervention strategies in A&E departments, and employment of key train ed personnel, should be considered, to optimize the clinical management of these patients.