Brian Kellett writes in the Guardian -

I’ve worked in ambulances and am sick of seeing people bingeing on alcohol without having to face consequences

David Cameron has called for “innovative solutions” to tackle the problem of alcohol in society. Having been ambulance staff, I have spent a lot of my time picking up people who had been injured or just rendered incapable due to alcohol, which means I am well-placed to talk about the evils of alcohol and certainly wouldn’t agree with Nicholas Lezard’s comments on the issue.

Dealing with vomit and violence I would take these patients to the local A&E department. Overworked and often understaffed, the nurses there would have to deal with these high-dependency patients, cleaning them up, trying to stop them urinating over the side of the trolley and dodging their flailing fists.

For every quiet drunk slumped in a public place there are three or four similarly intoxicated patients with head injuries, lacerations, or people who have made suicide attempts – not to mention those who seem to have turned up just because they want to fight with hospital staff.

While this goes on, the staff are trying to look after an older woman who fell and broke her hip, the woman having a miscarriage or the anxious, mentally ill man who all suddenly find themselves in Hogarth’s Gin Lane.

Read the full article at guardian.co.uk.