A Retrospective Analysis of the Nature, Extent and Cost of Alcohol-Related Emergency Calls to the Ambulance Service in an English Region

To measure the prevalence, pattern and associated financial cost of alcohol-related ambulance call outs in the North East of England using routinely collected data from the North East Ambulance Service (NEAS). A retrospective cohort study over a 1-year time period (1 April 2009 to 31 March 2010) usi...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Alcohol and alcoholism (Oxford) 2012-03, Vol.47 (2), p.191-197
Main Authors: MARTIN, N, NEWBURY-BIRCH, D, DUCKETT, J, MASON, H, SHEN, J, SHEVILLS, C, KANER, E
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Addictive behaviors
Adolescent
Adult
Adult and adolescent clinical studies
Aged
Alcohol related
Alcohol-Related Disorders - economics
Alcohol-Related Disorders - epidemiology
Alcoholism
Alcoholism and acute alcohol poisoning
Ambulance services
Ambulances
Ambulances - economics
Ambulances - statistics & numerical data
Biological and medical sciences
Child
Emergency Medical Services - economics
Emergency Medical Services - statistics & numerical data
England - epidemiology
Ethanol - poisoning
Female
Health Care Costs - statistics & numerical data
Humans
Male
Medical sciences
Middle Aged
Prevalence
Psychology. Psychoanalysis. Psychiatry
Psychopathology. Psychiatry
Recording
Relative risks
Retrospective Studies
Sex Characteristics
Time Factors
Toxicology
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Summary:To measure the prevalence, pattern and associated financial cost of alcohol-related ambulance call outs in the North East of England using routinely collected data from the North East Ambulance Service (NEAS). A retrospective cohort study over a 1-year time period (1 April 2009 to 31 March 2010) using NEAS patient record forms. In the North East, 10% of ambulance call outs were alcohol-related. Males were 2.5 times more likely than females to be attended by an ambulance on the street rather than at home. People aged 10-19 had the highest relative risk ratio (3.4) of an ambulance pick up being on the street compare with those aged over 60. These call outs and subsequent accident and emergency (A&E) attendances cost over £9 million in a 1-year period. When extrapolated to the whole country the cost could be as much as £152 million per year. In a 1-year period, we estimated that over 31,000 ambulance call outs were alcohol-related. A large discrepancy was found between manual and electronic recording of alcohol-related ambulance attendances to A&E. The workload and cost of alcohol-related call outs is high and mostly preventable. Ambulance visits may present a teachable moment for brief intervention to reduce alcohol-related risk and harm.
ISSN:0735-0414
1464-3502
DOI:10.1093/alcalc/agr158