From The Times today (it's behind a paywall) NHS is paying a high price for baby-boomers’ drinking habits | The Times :
Middle-aged drinkers cost the NHS more than ten times as much as younger ?binge? drinkers, according to Alcohol Concern.
Long-term, heavy drinking among the baby-boom generation is putting a far bigger burden on the health service than the Saturday night blow-outs of their children, its calculations suggest.
Treatment for conditions such as liver disease and alcohol-related heart disease and cancers cost three times as much as drink-fuelled admissions to casualty departments, it says.
Alcohol-related inpatient admissions among 55 to 74-year-olds cost the NHS ?825.6 million last year, the charity calculated using official hospital statistics. Among 16 to 24-year-olds the figure was ?63.8 million.
The cost was driven by eight times as many admissions in the older group (454,317) as in the younger (54,682).
Mark Bellis, alcohol spokesman for the Faculty of Public Health, said: ?People often think something like half a bottle of wine a night is a safe level of drinking and don?t really recognise they?re increasing their risk of more than 40 health conditions. If you?re drinking half a bottle of wine a night then your chances of dying of an alcohol-related disease, injury or violence are one in 25.?
Such levels of drinking ?can routinely take 15 years off your life?, he said. ?If you?re drinking half a bottle of wine at the moment, then if you can cut that to a glass then you?re reducing your risks over ten or 20 years of a whole range of long-term health conditions.
?And if you can?t reduce to that, then it opens up a question about your relationship with alcohol.?
Eric Appleby, chief executive of Alcohol Concern, said: ?It is the common perception that young people are responsible for the increasing cost of alcohol misuse but our findings show that in reality this is not the case.
?It is the middle-aged, and often middle-class drinker, regularly drinking above recommended limits, who are actually requiring complex and expensive NHS care. There needs to be more investment in local alcohol care pathways and services by local authorities for this group, to prevent them from ending up as an inpatient.?
Inpatient admissions related to alcohol among all ages cost ?1,993.57 million, compared with ?636.30 million for A&E treatment for drink-related accidents, the charity found.
Hospitals calculate the proportion of admissions for diseases often related to alcohol consumption that can be attributed to the patient?s drinking. The cost of admissions ?partly attributable? to alcohol was ?1,545.46 million, more than three times the cost of conditions such as alcoholic liver disease that are ?wholly attributable? to alcohol, at ?448.11 million.
Professor Bellis said: ?We forget that the majority of people admitted to hospital with alcohol-related conditions are from long-term, chronic drinking, often at levels people think are safe.?
They realise the harm only when they have to see someone because of a problem. That takes time and that?s why this older age group has a bigger impact on the health service, he said.
The middle-aged had a ?false sense of security? because they were not binge-drinking at the weekend, even though their total weekly consumption could be higher.
Sir Ian Gilmore, President of the British Gastroenterology Society and former President of the Royal College of Physicians, said: ?It is the unwitting chronic middle-aged drinkers who are taking serious risks with their health. They present in hospital with conditions attributable to their alcohol consumption such as stroke and cancer. People simply do not realise that chronic drinking significantly increases their chances of suffering health problems.?
Middle-aged drinkers cost the NHS more than ten times as much as younger ?binge? drinkers, according to Alcohol Concern.
Long-term, heavy drinking among the baby-boom generation is putting a far bigger burden on the health service than the Saturday night blow-outs of their children, its calculations suggest.
Treatment for conditions such as liver disease and alcohol-related heart disease and cancers cost three times as much as drink-fuelled admissions to casualty departments, it says.
Alcohol-related inpatient admissions among 55 to 74-year-olds cost the NHS ?825.6 million last year, the charity calculated using official hospital statistics. Among 16 to 24-year-olds the figure was ?63.8 million.
The cost was driven by eight times as many admissions in the older group (454,317) as in the younger (54,682).
Mark Bellis, alcohol spokesman for the Faculty of Public Health, said: ?People often think something like half a bottle of wine a night is a safe level of drinking and don?t really recognise they?re increasing their risk of more than 40 health conditions. If you?re drinking half a bottle of wine a night then your chances of dying of an alcohol-related disease, injury or violence are one in 25.?
Such levels of drinking ?can routinely take 15 years off your life?, he said. ?If you?re drinking half a bottle of wine at the moment, then if you can cut that to a glass then you?re reducing your risks over ten or 20 years of a whole range of long-term health conditions.
?And if you can?t reduce to that, then it opens up a question about your relationship with alcohol.?
Eric Appleby, chief executive of Alcohol Concern, said: ?It is the common perception that young people are responsible for the increasing cost of alcohol misuse but our findings show that in reality this is not the case.
?It is the middle-aged, and often middle-class drinker, regularly drinking above recommended limits, who are actually requiring complex and expensive NHS care. There needs to be more investment in local alcohol care pathways and services by local authorities for this group, to prevent them from ending up as an inpatient.?
Inpatient admissions related to alcohol among all ages cost ?1,993.57 million, compared with ?636.30 million for A&E treatment for drink-related accidents, the charity found.
Hospitals calculate the proportion of admissions for diseases often related to alcohol consumption that can be attributed to the patient?s drinking. The cost of admissions ?partly attributable? to alcohol was ?1,545.46 million, more than three times the cost of conditions such as alcoholic liver disease that are ?wholly attributable? to alcohol, at ?448.11 million.
Professor Bellis said: ?We forget that the majority of people admitted to hospital with alcohol-related conditions are from long-term, chronic drinking, often at levels people think are safe.?
They realise the harm only when they have to see someone because of a problem. That takes time and that?s why this older age group has a bigger impact on the health service, he said.
The middle-aged had a ?false sense of security? because they were not binge-drinking at the weekend, even though their total weekly consumption could be higher.
Sir Ian Gilmore, President of the British Gastroenterology Society and former President of the Royal College of Physicians, said: ?It is the unwitting chronic middle-aged drinkers who are taking serious risks with their health. They present in hospital with conditions attributable to their alcohol consumption such as stroke and cancer. People simply do not realise that chronic drinking significantly increases their chances of suffering health problems.?
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