'Hospital casualty admissions trebled' since 24-hour drinking

The controversial liberalisation of the licensing laws led to sharp increases in the number of overnight alcohol-related assaults and other injuries dealt with by a Central London hospital.

Ministers claimed the relaxation of the laws, in November 2005, would encourage a more civilised atmosphere in pubs and would promote a European-style cafe culture.

But the doctor who led the study said it showed 24-hour drinking was increasingly harming the public. Dr Alastair Newton, who works in the accident and emergency department at St Thomas' Hospital, said: 'The increase in alcohol-related problems we have recorded is the opposite of the effect the legislation was designed to produce.

'In addition, our data suggests that the legislation has also failed to achieve its intended improvement in public safety and reduction in alcohol-related crime and disorder.'

In March 2005, 2,736 patients turned up to A&E at St Thomas' during the night. In March 2006, the number was slightly up at 3,135.

But the number attending A&E for alcohol-related reasons shot up at a much higher rate, from 79 to 250. That meant that in March 2006, 8 per cent of casualty patients had been affected by alcohol, compared with

2.9 per cent in March 2005.

Similarly, alcohol-related assaults went up from 27 cases to 62, while alcohol-related injuries increased from 44 to 129. There was some overlap between these categories.

The number admitted to a bed at the hospital for alcohol-related reasons was also up, from 24 cases to 71.

The authors said their findings were likely to be representative of inner- city A&E departments across the UK, adding that it meant the number turning up to casualty after drinking too much was likely to be 'very substantial'.

Liberal Democrat culture spokesman Don Foster said: 'This report is a damning indictment of the Government's efforts to tackle binge drinking.

'They were repeatedly warned that it was dangerous to change licensing laws when binge drinking was already such a problem.'

Last month, government figures revealed that there had been a 14 per cent increase in hospital admissions for drink problems since the licensing laws were relaxed.

There were 187,640 alcohol-related hospital admissions in England during 2005/2006, compared with 164,787 the year before. The number of alcohol-related deaths climbed from 4,037 to 6,570.

A spokesman for the Department for Culture, Media and Sport said: 'We want to turn around people's attitudes to alcohol. This will not happen overnight and it will not be done solely through the new licensing laws.'

d.martin@dailymail.co.uk