Alcohol related incidents are estimated to cost the Scottish Ambulance service £31.5 million a year, but this may well be an underestimate. The statistic is sobering – but the hard reality is even stronger.

A night with Scotland’s paramedics runs from the nice housing “estates” to the “schemes”, all to deal with over-imbibers. In the debate on how to address Scotland’s battle with booze, the ambulance service, the frontline in that battle, is too often overlooked.

We hear reports of drunks kicking off in police cells and A&E departments and assaulting police officers and nursing staff, but what about the ambulance staff who are often first on the scene?

Read full article: Edinburgh Evening News.