GP calls for tougher laws on drinking

A GP spokesman has called for hard-hitting measures to battle drink-related injuries and illness.

Dr Kailash Chand, a member of the British Medical Association, has called for a ban on happy hours in pubs and bars, new rules outlawing supermarket discounts, and health warnings on all bottles and cans.

According to a national newspaper, official figures show 6 per cent of all NHS admissions were in some way drink-related.

More than 800,000 people a year are admitted to hospital with alcohol-related injuries and illnesses. But Dr Chand believes Oldham is faring much worse.

He said: “Around 40 per cent of A and E attendances in Oldham are classed as being alcohol-related. In 2005-06, men lost nearly a year of life and women lost nearly eight months due to alcohol-related mortality.

“But the cases recorded mostly deal with illnesses directly caused by alcohol consumption such as liver diseases.

“These figures exclude hundreds of thousands of cases where patients were made ill by alcohol indirectly, such as breast cancer, stroke and heart disease.

“These figures also do not include injuries caused by drink-fuelled violence or road accidents.”

Alcohol is thought to cause about 17,000 cases of cancer a year and £2 billion of NHS money is spent every year treating patients with alcohol-related diseases.

Dr Chand said the introduction of 24-hour drinking had made the problem worse.

And he believes that lifestyle illnesses will put an increasing strain on the health services unless people behave more responsibly.

He said: “A time bomb is ticking. Alcohol-related illnesses are occurring in increasingly younger people and liver disease often strikes those under under 40.

“In the 12 years to 2006-07, cases of alcoholic-related liver disease trebled in Oldham. Urgent legislation is required.”

A spokesman for the Pennine Acute Trust said: “There is no doubt that the impact of alcohol has become greater over the years and we are seeing a rise in attendances to A and E that are in one way or another related to alcohol.”