Alcoholics needing treatment doubles
The number of alcoholics going into treatment has almost doubled in the last year, according to Lincolnshire Drug and Alcohol Service.
In the first nine months of the 2008/09 financial year, the service referred 616 problem drinkers into treatment.
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The treatment is provided by specialist nurses working for the Lincolnshire Partnership Foundation Trust.
And Scott Watkinson, from Lincolnshire Drug and Alcohol Services, says they expect to refer a total of 900 drinkers by April.
This compares to just 404 for the whole of 2007/08.
Mr Watkinson said this is the result of the county's new alcohol services which launched in August.
Previously, access to treatment was only available via GP referral.
But since the summer any concerned drinker can be screened at the open access centre based at the Addaction building in Newland, Lincoln, and referred for treatment.
An Internet tool to encourage safe drinking – www.lincs2alcohol.co.uk – has been launched and alcohol liaison nurses now work in custody suites and at Lincoln County Hospital referring dangerous drinkers to the service.
"We cannot say that people are drinking more," said Mr Watkinson.
"It's more a case that through the campaign people can and know how to refer themselves to an alcohol service."
Tony McGinty, assistant director of public health at NHS Lincolnshire said he is hopeful that a further £500,000 will be invested in county alcohol services in 2009/10.
This will bring the budget to £2m, up from £1.5m in 2008/09.
"I'm very pleased with the take-up which has exceeded what we hoped to achieve," said Mr McGinty.
"We have to be careful now that waiting times don't get longer for treatment."
For more on the number of alcoholics being treated in the county, see Saturday's Echo.
3 Comments
by Mr Sneer, Derision on the Wold
Sunday, February 22 2009, 11:33PM
“And yet another person buys into the "24 hour drinking ruins Britain" lie, despite the fact that there are very few places around that are open 24 hours and especially not in Lincolnshire.
FYI manx imp, if you knew the first thing about alcoholism, you'd know it has no more to do with pub opening times any more than nicotine addiction has anything to do with 24-hour stores selling cigarettes. I'd advise you to read the article again and pay particular attention to this bit:
"We cannot say that people are drinking more," said Mr Watkinson.
"It's more a case that through the campaign people can and know how to refer themselves to an alcohol service."”
by manx imp, isle of man
Saturday, February 21 2009, 5:28PM
“So the government introduce 24 hour drinking, this of course brings in extra revenue and then the extra money generated is spent on people with drink related problems ! come on Mr Brown, get a grip”
by halibut, Lincoln
Saturday, February 21 2009, 4:41PM
“I thought this meant that alcoholics were being given doubles as part of their treatment. Mine's a double whiskey.”