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Impact of the new UK licensing law on emergency hospital attendances: a cohort study
  1. Alastair Newton1,
  2. Shah Jalal Sarker2,
  3. Gurjinderpal S Pahal1,
  4. Eric van den Bergh1,
  5. Charles Young1
  1. 1Emergency Department, St Thomas’ Hospital, London, UK
  2. 2Department of Public Health Sciences, Kings College London, London, UK
  1. Correspondence to:
 Dr Alastair Newton
 Emergency Department, St Thomas’ Hospital, London, SE1 7EH, UK; alastair.newton{at}gstt.nhs.uk

Abstract

Objectives: To assess the effect of the new UK alcohol licensing law on overnight attendances to the emergency department.

Methods: A retrospective cohort study at the emergency department of St Thomas’ Hospital, London over 2 months, one before and one after the introduction of the new legislation. All people over the age of 16 years who attended the emergency department between 21:00 and 09:00 during the two study periods (March 2005 and March 2006) were included. An alcohol-related attendance was defined as having occurred if there was documentation of alcohol consumption before attendance, or of alcohol intoxication in relation to the patient’s physical examination or final diagnosis. The primary outcome measure was change in the number and percentage of alcohol related attendances to the emergency department between the two study periods. Secondary outcome measures, compared between the two study periods, were number and percentage of alcohol-related attendances as a consequence of assault, and of injury; and number and percentage of alcohol-related attendances resulting in admission to hospital.

Results: In March 2005 there were 2736 overnight attendances to the ED, of which 79 (2.9%) were classified as alcohol related. In comparison, in March 2006 there were a total of 3135 overnight attendances, of which 250 (8%) were alcohol related, representing a significant increase (p<0.001). There were also significant increases in percentage of alcohol related attendances as a consequence of injury (p<0.001) and assault (p = 0.002); and in admission rates for alcohol related attendances (p<0.001) between the two study periods.

Conclusions: Overnight alcohol related emergency attendances to St Thomas’ hospital increased after the introduction of new alcohol licensing legislation. If reproduced over longer time periods and across the UK as a whole, the additional burden on emergency care could be substantial.

  • ED, emergency department
  • PRF, patient record form

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Footnotes

  • Funding: None

  • Competing interests: None

  • Ethical approval: The study protocol was assessed by the chairman of the local research ethics committee who deemed that formal ethical approval was not required.

    Contributions: Alastair Newton conceived the idea for the study, took part in data analysis, and wrote the manuscript; Shah Jalal Sarker provided the statistical analysis of the data and wrote the manuscript; Gurjinderpal Pahal conceived the idea for the study, took part in data analysis, and wrote the manuscript; Eric van den Bergh took part in data analysis, and wrote the manuscript; Charles Young conceived the idea for the study, took part in data analysis, and wrote the manuscript.

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