The NHS could save £27m a year by changing the way it deals with alcoholic patients, new research seen by the Victoria Derbyshire programme suggests. Alcohol abuse costs the NHS £3.8bn a year, £145 for each household in the UK – one in three of all A&E admissions are alcohol related, which can rise to 70% on a weekend. But patients who attend the emergency department or inpatient ward at a Manchester hospital in with issues related to alcohol abuse can now be sent to a specialist unit where they are treated for their addiction for a week. Some 75% of the people who come through the unit do not go back to hospital for at least the next three months. Independent analysis from John Moore’s University found the unit saved the NHS £1.3m a year. If the same approach was taken across the country the researchers say it could save the NHS £27.5 m in England alone.
Jim Reed reports.
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