You have seen Accident and Emergencies around the country. They are full of drunk people.
This is why I propose legislation to call for compulsory BEER HELMETS!
Lets look a the evidence.
Alcohol-related health harm is not just limited to chronic disease or physical illness. The presence of alcohol in the body has also been shown to increase the severity of injuries from accidents (1)
“Estimates of the proportion of alcohol related emergency attendance vary. A national survey of most of the UK’s Emergency Departments by Drummond found that 70% of night time attendances and 40% of daytime attendances were caused by alcohol. A study from Cambridge found the lowest proportion of alcohol related attendances was 24% at night and 4% during the day.[75] The College of Emergency Medicine informed us:
Significant numbers of adults and children attend Emergency Departments in the UK as a direct result of alcohol consumption. Short-term harms include serious accidents (some resulting in death and permanent disability, particularly road traffic collisions), assaults, domestic violence, collapse and psychiatric problems.” (2)
Alcohol and Accidents
Institute of Alcohol Studies
“Alcohol is the single biggest cause of accidents at home. Of the 4,000 fatal accidents that happen in homes in the UK every year, 400 are alcohol-related” (3)
“An indirect estimate of the impact of alcohol on the general workload of A&E departments in the UK was first highlighted in 1980 by a report that a third of all patients attending an A&E department had a blood alcohol concentration (BAC) over 80mg/100ml.52 Yates and
colleagues subsequently reported similar results in a more detailed study. For a two-week period they determined BAC, collected clinical records and interviewed all patients aged 16 and over attending two A&E Departments: 13% of all patients had a positive BAC; 60% of all assaulted patients, many with head injuries, were intoxicated; 19% of those attending within 2 hours of an accident at home also had a positive BAC. The authors concluded that alcohol abuse is commonly associated with injures sustained at home and assaults occurring in public places that lead to A&E attendances.”
“Several other UK studies have examined specific categories of A&E attendances/admissions. A study from Edinburgh examined injuries suffered by 102 pedestrians consecutively admitted to an A&E department.55 These injuries comprised 0.8% of the department workload and 28% of RTA injuries. Patients under the influence of alcohol had more severe and widespread injuries, were more likely to have facial injuries and were more likely to be detained as inpatients.”
“Two studies have specifically examined the contribution of alcohol to head injuries presenting to A&E departments. The first reported that 43% of 204 patients with head injuries presenting to an A&E department over a 10-week period had alcohol in their urine.56 A second, much larger study reported the workload pattern related to head injuries on an acute surgical unit in a central London teaching hospital.57Over a six-month period, 899 patients with head injuries were treated in the A&E department, of whom 156 were admitted. Of these, 51% of the adult admissions were intoxicated by alcohol, and alcohol was associated with a significantly increased length of stay. An audit of 6,114 patients with facial injuries presenting to 163 A&E departments in the UK during a week in 1997 reported that at least 22% were associated with alcohol consumption within four hours of the injury.58 Finally, a study from Edinburgh examining 369 consecutive A&E admissions to a male ‘acute’ orthopaedic ward reported that alcohol had contributed to the accident in 19% of cases according to clinical assessment.”
“alcohol misuse is probably responsible for at least 10% of unselected attendances and almost certainly a higher percentage of attendances with head/facial injuries and trauma requiring admission to orthopaedic wards” (4)
https://catalogue.ic.nhs.uk/publications/public-health/alcohol/alco-eng-2013/alc-eng-2013-rep.pdf
So there we have some pretty conclusive proof that there is a need NOW for Beer Helmets.
REFERENCES
(1) Fuller, M. G (1995), ‘Alcohol use and injury severity in trauma patients’, Journal of Addictive Diseases
(2) http://www.publications.parliament.uk/pa/cm200910/cmselect/cmhealth/151/15107.htm#a12
(3) https://www.drinkaware.co.uk/check-the-facts/effects-on-your-safety/alcohol-related-accidents
(4) http://www.rcplondon.ac.uk/sites/default/files/documents/alcohol_nhsweb.pdf
Beer Helmet Action 