| Trust welcomes LGA survey highlighting licensing law failure |
04 July 2008 @15:26:30 |
The British Liver Trust has welcomed the findings of the Local Government Association’s survey Licensing Act 2003 and the effects of alcohol, which it believes reinforces its long-standing position that 24-hour drinking laws do nothing to address the rise in alcohol-related hospital admissions and ultimately the incidence of cirrhosis and alcoholic liver disease, and the burden on the health service this inevitably creates.
“It comes as no surprise,” said Chief Executive Alison Rogers, “that one in three PCTs have reported an increase in alcohol-related incidents and that the large majority of health authorities (due to the rise in A & E admissions) and councils are seeing an increase in pressure on their resources.
“ We support wholeheartedly Sir Simon Milton’s call for a national debate about the availability of alcohol, the accepted views of social drinking and the need to find ways to reduce consumption. As Sir Simon says, once again the tax-payer is picking up the cost of the government’s failure to tackle this problem in a strategic manner.”
The LGA release can be found at: http://www.lga.gov.uk/lga/core/page.do?pageId=765218 |