Covid in Scotland: More ambulance calls to lockdown home drinking

Drink-related ambulance callouts initially fell during lockdown but then rose again as home drinking became a problem, a study has found.

Stirling University researchers found the closure of pubs and nightclubs in April and May 2020 led to a dramatic decline in “mass public intoxication”

However, drink-related callouts soon returned to pre-pandemic levels as home drinking increased.

The researchers call for long-term action to address problem drinking.

One suggestion they make is to increase the minimum unit price of shop-purchased alcohol unit to reduce consumption within the home. Other possibilities discussed were restrictions on online sales and licensing changes.

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Prof Niamh Fitzgerald, director of the Institute for Social Marketing and Health at Stirling University, who led the study, said lockdown did have some positive outcomes for the NHS and emergency services, and policy makers should reflect on how these might be sustained in future.

While ambulance callouts generally fell at the start of lockdown, the decrease in drink-related incidents was most dramatic at weekends, especially at night with incidents down 48.9% on the previous year.

One paramedic said during this time there had been “nowhere near the same amount of public intoxication or mass intoxication”. He said there had been fewer assaults involving alcohol, fewer unconscious people and fewer falls.

“This was a situation that paramedics described as a ‘welcome break’ from the hostile, alcohol-fuelled scenes experienced in towns and cities on weekend nights pre-pandemic,” Prof Fitzgerald said.

IMAGE SOURCE,PA MEDIA

Image caption,

Minimum unit pricing for alcohol came into force in Scotland in May 2018

However, ambulance crews found that after April, despite licensed premises remaining closed, the number of calls increased again, with these calls spread throughout the week rather than concentrated at weekends

At the height of the pandemic, from April to June 2020, there were 18,832 alcohol-related callouts – 16% of all callouts.

“During the pandemic, both in the UK and abroad, licensed premises – including bars, restaurants and nightclubs – faced significant restrictions, including closures and curfews, which helped to reduce spread of the virus,” Prof Fitzgerald said.

“However, we know that these restrictions also led to many people drinking more alcohol at home.”

‘People were pouring bigger measures’

Gail Macfarlane has been an ambulance technician with the Scottish Ambulance Service in Glasgow for the last five years.

She said: “Almost every day we get an alcohol-related job, people on the street who are alcohol dependent or – at this moment in time – we get a lot of social drinkers who have overdone it.

“When people are enjoying themselves they get carried away. They have falls, get into fights, and that means jobs for us to do. It can mean we don’t get to elderly people who had a fall, because we’re dealing with others because of their social drinking and intoxication.”

She said people drinking at home during lockdown could bring its own problems.

“When the pubs and clubs were closed more people were drinking in the house, and at home people were pouring bigger measures than you get in a bar,” she added.

Prof Fitzgerald said: “The views expressed by paramedics are powerful and give pause for thought about whether business recovery post-Covid has to mean a return to the ‘mass intoxication’ described.

“This is surely an opportunity for politicians and clinicians to show leadership in pushing for better alcohol policies that protect the NHS and frontline services. At a time when policymakers want to support the hospitality sector, but also wish to protect health services, there is an opportunity to put in place win-win policies that can do both.”

‘Reinforces previous findings’

Alison Douglas, chief executive of Alcohol Focus Scotland said, “Whether it’s weekend nights out or weekdays at home, these findings show the impact of alcohol on the Scottish Ambulance Service is unacceptable and unsustainable.

“Paramedics should not have to dread working a Friday or a Saturday night shift. The increase in callouts related to home drinking during the pandemic is concerning and reinforces previous findings that some of us, particularly heavier drinkers, have increased our drinking.

“With a sixth of all callouts being alcohol-related in 2020, we agree that further action needs to be taken to change Scotland’s unhealthy relationship with alcohol.”

The Scottish government has been contacted for comment.

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