to think the NHS can't charge for drunk treatment without charging for other self inflicted

[suziepra]

There is huge support for charging drunk people for a and e. I think this is being launched in Ireland.

I'm tee total but I don't agree with this as it is unfair just to pick on people that drink. Stats have been showing that young people drink less than ever these days.

Why should someone that has chosen to play a contact sport like rugby get free treatment if the drunks have to pay? What about someone who has chosen to live on junk for decades that has obesity treatment?

I agree that it's unworkable. Someone has to adjudicate and where value based judgements are made there will have to be an appeal system. That will cost in administration, legal and compensation. I don't believe it would make sustainable savings.

Having a drunk tank with access to medics might be a better route

YANBU.

And if they charge someone who gets drunk on a night out and hurts themself, once, what about someone with a longstanding addiction? It won't cure the addiction. More likely they'll not get the medical attention they so desperately need.

The other problem is people would resist going for treatment which could well lead to them becoming iller - therefore costing more - or Unfortunatly die. All because they wanted to avoid, or couldn't afford, paying for help

Even obesity isn't that cut and dried.

Would it be right to charge someone who is unable to exercise because of an existing physical condition.

Would it be right to charge a fat young adult who was a fat child because of the dietary habits and lifestyle imposed on them by their parents and who doesn't have the independence or skills to sort it out, yet? Many fat 20 year olds were fat 15 year olds.

Would it be right to charge someone who has a condition or takes medications which pre-dispose to weight gain?

I'm a recovering alcoholic, and was treated in A&E a couple of times when I was drinking - because of collapsing in blackouts I think. It is my belief that I have an illness (just noting the Blog of the Day title following me down the page, 'Addiction is the most dedicated stalker'. So true!) and that while it was my choice and responsibility to pick up a drink in the first place, I lost all control once alcohol entered my system.

However, I can totally understand people's frustration and anger at the problem with 'drunks' clogging up hospitals .

Anyway, I just can't see how this idea would work.

It's a nasty idea and a stupid unworkable one.

I don't think the NHS should charge for anything.

Is it people who drink alcohol at all they intend to charge or people who are actually brought in drunk? I think the latter can waste a lot of time and detract from people with more serious problems, generally speaking.

Either way, I still didn't think the NHS should be charging.

I don't think it's fair to say that ending up in A&E is a totally predictable result of drinking -- I was a heavy drinker for many years and never had an accident, needed medical care, etc. Not sure many of my friends did either.

There would be too many gray areas to have a really simple set of criteria on whether to charge people (ie some people might need care after drinking but not because they were drinking). That means having someone on staff to make the decision on each case. Would you like to be the person telling some huge drunk guy that he'll have to pay up?

There must be some more practical solutions. I know they do 'field hospital' type setups on certain days they know people will be drinking a lot, why can't they do this every weekend?

If they need more money for it, I'd rather see a higher tax on alcohol.

i think for repeat offenders yes for one off stupidity no i fell downstairs after i had 2/3 drinks i wasnt drunk my carpet came loose i could have slipped at any time i slipped when i had been drinking

in a similar incident my mother gave blood one day had a glass of coke (at the pub that afternoon) and fainted she landed over a bar stool and broke a rib a taxi was called to take her to a&e he refused to take "the piss head" (she was sober but she had been a sick from the pain) so a total stranger had to take her to a&e where they gave her a telling off for drinking after giving blood eventually my sis rocked up and told them (in loud drunken tones) that she (mom) had not been drinking and they were treating her poorly my sis got asked to leave and my mom got treated a bit better

perception is a terrible thing she had a concussion too which left her feeling a bit defenceless

I posted about this last night. I like the idea of drunk tanks for certain folk.

my former step mom is an alcoholic she got help and anti abuse tablets i would rather that she had been offered the help years before she got it because when she first asked she was dismissed and told to "just stop drinking" which did not work so we had years of drunk phone calls and embarrassing secrets shouted down the phone and yes A&E visits after she had smashed her fist through glass etc it was vile but when she asked for help she was dismissed

What actually is a drunk tank?

What about the 14 year old, whos parents wave them off to school but instead they head off with a friend drink half a bottle of vodka and end up getting stomachs pumped - do we charge them/the parents?

Usually a sort of shelter where people are put to sober themselves up, like people who are found asleep in doorways and such

Manned by professionals it would have to be though. I suppose there'd be fighting and people using it to get a bed for the night.

Actually the more I think about it the more I don't like the idea.

That was a swift turn

In the US the drunk tank is actually at the local jail, it's just rooms they pour drunk people into until they sober up. Do they have anything like this in the UK?

No dreaming.

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Drunk_tank

The Polish seem to have them too, quite interesting

Ahh I see thanks

I'm now singing "It was Christmas Eve babe, in the drunk tank..."

A teetotal friend of mine broke her leg recently while dancing in high heels. Should she be charged for reckless shoe-wearing? Treated for free as she was sober? At what level of alcohol consumption would the fine kick in?

This just makes me think of my friend who went through 3 months of getting drunk every Saturday night in her 20's. Her sister had just died of cancer, her parents were in bits, and her brother had a breakdown. She sorted out the funeral, cleared her sister's house, and provided practical support to her family. Getting drunk on a Saturday night seemed to be her way of coping, for a short time.

It makes me sad how judgemental so many people are.

It's not workable. Would you charge someone for slitting their wrists or someone that needs pills pumped out of their stomach after a failed overdose. It's nonsense.

I'm sure they'd get a load of that worra

I don't agree with the charge but perhaps repeat offenders should be? Something needs to be done. I've been in on a weekend a few times and it's a joke. People screaming, people puking and pissing everywhere, people who have a bed that someone needs going missing and later found trying to smoke in the toilets.

I was in and had to wait 4 hours and I've never been in as much pain in all my life. Had to sit on the floor with a blanket over my head, whilst some woman had a bed and a drip in was cackling and saying she'd be going back out again once she was done. Disgusting.

I'd quite like a tax on high heels. They are vile.

MollyBdenum Some years ago a bloke was taken to A & E with his dick caught in the vacuum cleaner. They sorted him out and the only explanation he offered was It just slipped in.

It makes me wince to think of it but then of course it would!

I went out with a new friend and her friends when I was just about to turn 18. I rarely drink due to medical reasons and that night was just drinking coke. Or so I thought. Turns out they'd been putting spirits in my drink all night and I didn't realise. I avoided A&E but I was poorly... where's the line?

I think this is being launched in Ireland.

No only proposed by the reprehensible NI Health Minister Edwin Poots, who on several occasions in the past, has proved himself to be completely inhuman and lacking in understanding with regard to healthcare and the implications (both healthwise and financial) of his 'policies'.

I pity NI and feel the sooner this man is sacked from this role, the better, for anyone who lives there.