Britain’s need for ‘drunk tanks’ shows how broken our society is | Simon Jenkins

If we can have booze buses, then why not care clubs for the isolated, vulnerable and unwell? The need is sadly all too great

Friday night in a big city casualty department is not a nice place to be. A reported 70% of patients are not really ill, just blind drunk. What on earth are they doing there?

The answer is that every social nuisance nowadays seems to lead either to a police station or A&E. In recent years, 12 British cities have been “experimenting” with so-called alcohol recovery units – sobering-up police rooms, lorries or “booze buses”. These are regarded as successful, and the government now proposes to extend the scheme to towns and cities nationwide.

GPs likewise admit that many of their 'patients' are not suffering from illness or injury, but loneliness. They want a sympathetic ear

Related: We're not the National Hangover Service, NHS boss warns revellers

Continue reading... December 29, 2017 at 06:22PM