Roll out ‘drunk tanks’ to ease crisis in A&E

DRUNK tanks could be rolled out across the NHS to ease the pressure on A&E units.

The mobile units are specially fitted out with beds, drips for rehydration and showers where patients can sober up.

They are usually staffed by ambulance workers and nurses and situated in city centres, away from hospitals.

As many as one in seven patients in A&E are very drunk, diverting care away from the elderly and the seriously ill.

Several cities have already introduced drunk tanks into their city centres on Friday and Saturday nights including Bristol, Newcastle, Manchester and Cardiff.

NHS England will decide next year whether they should be routinely deployed in other areas of the country. They will base their decision on an ongoing trial assessing whether they effectively relieve pressures in A&E.

Simon Stevens, the chief executive of NHS England, said it was selfish for drunks to turn up to emergency units.

‘When the health service is pulling out all the stops to care for sick and vulnerable patients ... it’s frankly selfish when ambulance paramedics and A&E nurses have to be diverted to looking after revellers who have overindulged,’ he said.

‘In the run-up to Christmas, having been out with ambulance crews on night shifts in London and the West Midlands, I’ve seen first-hand how paramedics and A&Es are being called on to deal with drunk and often aggressive people.’

Katherine Brown, chief executive of the Institute of Alcohol Studies, said: ‘Sobering centres can ease pressure on our overstretched emergency services.

‘Coping with excess alcohol use sucks up too much public money and more needs to be done to prevent alcohol-related illness and injury.’