Drinkers in A&E 'up since new law'

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Researchers from a London hospital discovered that the alcohol-related visits to A&E during the night increased hugely after the laws were introduced in November 2005.

The authors said their findings were likely to represent the picture at other inner city hospitals across the UK and warned of the possibility of "very substantial" numbers of additional patients over time.

The Tories described the findings as "deeply worrying" but the Department of Health said other, more comprehensive, research had found no rise in A&E attendances.

The study, published in the Emergency Medical Journal, was led by Dr Alastair Newton, from the emergency Department at St Thomas' Hospital in London.

His team examined figures for the number of attendances at the unit in March 2005 and in March 2006. All those over 16, who attended A&E between 9pm and 9am during the two study periods, were included in the research.

They were defined as having an alcohol-related visit if they had drunk before going to A&E, or if they were noted as being intoxicated when examined or in their final diagnosis.

In March 2005 there were 2,736 attendances at A&E during the night, of which 79 (2.9%) were defined as being related to alcohol. But in March 2006 there were 3,135 overnight attendances, of which 250 (8%) were related to alcohol, "representing a significant increase", the authors said.

Shadow health secretary Andrew Lansley said: "It is deeply worrying to think that the new licensing law is having such a negative impact on St Thomas' emergency department.

A spokeswoman for the Department for Culture, Media and Sport said: "This is one study from one hospital. It is misleading to say that this is representative for the whole country."