A SPECIALIST alcohol treatment worker has been employed at Hillingdon Hospital to combat a rising booze problem.
Alcohol-related hospital admissions in the borough are 17 per cent above the London average, according to figures just released.
The project aims to bridge the gap between hospital treatment and community services. New member of staff Mariana York-Smith is working at the hospital in Pield Heath Road to help sufferers beat addiction.
Reformed alcoholic John Piggot, who runs the JEM Alcohol Support Group, said: “I think it is a very good idea, it is about time they did something like this.
“I think people who study alcoholism are great, but you need to go through it to know what it is really like.
“I have been to see it for myself. The numbers coming into A&E on Friday Saturday nights are astronomical. People go miles over the top. There’s no way people can use money troubles as an excuse, as this happened long before the recession.”
Mr Piggot, a former bus driver of Richmond Avenue, Hillingdon, has been sober for 12 years. He blames cheap booze for today’s problems.
“Supermarkets are all fighting to sell it as cheap as possible,” he said. “You can’t walk into one without being bombarded with a giant display.”
Dr Bob Grover, clinical lead for the new strategy, said: “The initiative is unique in that a ward-based alcohol specialist worker initiates treatment for the alcohol problem during the hospital admission, and facilitates further community treatment following discharge.”
The programme is being led by Hillingdon Drug and Alcohol Services, part of the Central and North West London NHS Foundation Trust.
The latest annual figures reveal there were 1,973 alcohol related admissions in Hillingdon per 100,000, compared with the London average on 1,684. Figures for both alcohol related crimes and related violent crimes in the borough are both worse than the national average.
Local authority data reveals there were more than 270 deaths directly attributable to alcohol from 2003-7, the latest period for which figures are available.
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