Galway study finds a third of weekend A&E cases alcohol-related

DRINK is the cause of almost a third of weekend accident and emergency cases in Irish hospitals.

A study, led by staff in Galway University Hospital Emergency Department, the HSE Public Health Department in Galway and NUI Galway, is the first of its kind and has been published in the medical journal BMJ Open.
It also found that overall, 5.9 per cent of those attending Irish hospital emergency departments had alcohol recorded in their notes.
All 29 emergency departments in Irish hospitals were included in the research, where staff examined the notes of every person over the same four six-hour periods to identify alcohol-related presentations.
The busiest time was Saturday night and Sunday morning when 29 per cent of people coming to A and E presented with alcohol-related issues.
“We know alcohol is a problem in emergency departments at certain times but we need to know more about this to work out what needs to be done,” said Dr Brian McNicholl, consultant in Emergency Medicine at UHG and one of the authors of the study.

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