NHS sets up £300,000 city centre 'drunk tank' fund to take pressure off A&E over Christmas

Supervised units allow intoxicated or violent revellers to be supervised by volunteers and police

Ambulances can be taken away from emergencies dealing with drunk revellers (Getty)

The NHS has set up a £300,000 fund for city centre “drunk tanks” where intoxicated and aggressive revellers can be supervised over the festive season without heaping pressure on ambulances and A&E.

Partygoers can be checked and monitored by paramedics supported by St John’s Ambulance volunteers, with police on hand to manage any violence.

Ambulance trusts have run local drunk tank schemes in previous years but this is the first time NHS England has funded schemes nationally. It has been seen as a sign of the extra pressure irresponsible drinking heaps on the NHS.

“I have seen first-hand while out with ambulance crews in the run-up to last Christmas the problems that drunk and often aggressive people cause paramedics and A&E staff who just want to help those who need it most,” NHS England chief executive Simon Stevens said.

“NHS does not stand for ‘National Hangover Service’ which is why we want to help other organisations take care of those who just need somewhere safe to get checked over and perhaps sleep it off.”

The announcement comes as UK public health directors warned in The BMJ that Christmas cards featuring alcohol are adding to the UK’s unhealthy relationship with alcohol by reinforcing the idea that drinking is harmless fun.

As many as 15 per cent of A&E attendances in the UK are due to acute alcohol intoxication, but this spikes as high as 70 percent on Friday and Saturday evenings and around the holidays.

The NHS England fund will allow dozens of extra services to run around the country. Five ambulance trusts have applied for funding already, in addition to a service based in London’s Soho district which will have extra opening hours.

NHS-backed drunk tank initiatives could become a regular fixture if they’re shown to be effective over the party season in a trial that is currently underway.

Craig Heigold, paramedic team leader at South Central Ambulance Service runs the trust’s Oxford “SOS Project”, where paramedics, emergency care assistants and volunteers operate from large ambulance base.

He said: “By doing so we can reduce the demand on our colleagues at A&E, as well as ensure that more Oxfordshire SCAS staff and vehicles are free to respond to non-alcohol related illnesses and injuries elsewhere in the city and surrounding areas.”