Is it too difficult to find help for alcoholics?

NAOMI BACON asked why it is so difficult to find the help her alcoholic father so desperately needs (Mail). Following periods in rehab, he was sober for 13 years. He came from a good family and has had a City job, affording his wife and children a decent upbringing and private schooling. The family have enjoyed many years with a sober dad while the majority of people who have alcohol as the ruler within the household are not so lucky. Alcoholism is not an illness. What help is Naomi expecting the overburdened NHS to give her father? He is clearly an intelligent man who does not live below the poverty line, so he could seek his own help. The NHS has more important things to prioritise. Thousands are waiting for life-saving organ transplants or drugs that could improve their lives. Naomi’s dad does not appear to have be short of love, but that has not proved to be enough. DAVID PATRICK MOORE, Thornton Heath, Gtr London. I WOULD like to tell Naomi Bacon’s father not to give up: there is help out there. Having drunk for 23 years, I found rehab in 1992. However, it is Alcoholics Anonymous that continues to keep me sober on a daily basis. The helpline is open 24 hours a day, run by recovering alcoholics who have been in the same place where Naomi’s dad is now. They are the only other people who will totally get him. He has nothing to lose and everything to gain. All I can say is that I owe my life to AA.

name and address supplied.