'Selfish' New Year drinkers 'getting blotto' will damage health service, warns NHS chief
Services are already stretched due to winter emergencies, Simon Stevens said.
The chief of NHS England has warned the country's health service is becoming a 'national hangover service' and slammed drinkers "getting blotto" as "selfish".
Simon Stevens said the health service was currently under strain as a result of winter emergencies, with figures showing hospitals will also be dealing with an increase in alcohol-related admissions over New Year.
And the level of alcohol-related admissions is set to have an impact on the health service as a whole, with funds from other areas reportedly being diverted to deal with the problem.
"At a time of year when hospitals are always under pressure, caring for a spike in winter emergencies, it's really selfish to get so blotto that you end up in an ambulance or A&E," Stevens said in an interview with The Telegraph.
"More than a third of A&E attendances at peak times are caused by drunkenness. Casualty nurses and doctors are understandably frustrated about the NHS being used as a national hangover service," he explained.
International research suggests Britain is among the worst countries for high levels of binge drinking, illegal drug use and sexually transmitted diseases - all of which have a knock-on impact on the country's health service, even more so during the festive period.
"In our towns and cities this Christmas and new year, the paramedic called to a drunk partygoer passed out on the pavement is an ambulance crew obviously not then available for a genuine medical emergency," Stevens added.
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