NSW: New study reveals high cost of alcohol on emergency dept

AAP General News (Australia)
12-15-2005
NSW: New study reveals high cost of alcohol on emergency dept

By Sonya Neufeld

SYDNEY, Dec 15 AAP - Alcohol-related injuries are costing NSW hospitals more than $3
million a year, according to research that shows one in three emergency patients had been
drinking.

The Bureau of Crime Statistics and Research (BOCSAR) interviewed and examined the medical
records of 1,345 patients admitted to the emergency department at St Vincent's Hospital
in Sydney.

The study estimated St Vincent's bore an immediate cost of at least $1.4 million a
year treating alcohol-related injuries.

When associated costs such as hospitalisation were considered the price tag blew out
to $3.2 million a year.

A third of the patients were found to have consumed alcohol before being injured by
falling, being hit by something or being cut or pierced.

Almost two thirds of patients who were injured in fights or other violence were also
found to have been drinking shortly before they were hurt.

CEO of the Alcohol Education and Rehabilitation Foundation (AER), Daryl Smeaton, who
funded the study, called on the community and government to act on the findings.

"Alcohol, when it's misused, is the most dangerous drug in our community," Mr Smeaton
told reporters today.

"It is far more dangerous than all illicit drugs put together in terms of the breadth
of harm and in terms of the number of deaths ... 10 people on average die every day in
Australia as a result of alcohol misuse.

"There is a need for public policy to change around the issue of alcohol availability
and the issue of density of outlets, which is a major contributor to significant violence
on the streets," he said.

Director of BOCSAR, Dr Don Weatherburn, said the recent alcohol-fuelled race-related
attacks across Sydney emphasised the need for appropriate legislation.

"It's obvious that any deregulation of liquor licensing or extending trading hours
for licensed premises does run the risk of imposing further burdens on a stretched hospital
system or stretched emergency department," Dr Weatherburn said.

Director of the emergency department at St Vincent's, Associate Professor Gordian Fulde,
compared his department to a "war zone" fuelled by alcohol on New Year's Eve.

"The people we see who come to an emergency department, they've been knocked out, they've
been really badly battered," Assoc Prof Fulde said.

"Give me one positive aspect of someone who is pissed, aggressive or obnoxious ...

it's a no-brainer, it's not a good thing."

He recommended revellers drink no more than five alcoholic drinks per session.

AAP sn/was/jjs/sd

KEYWORD: HOSPITALS NSW

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