30,000 Victorians Hospitalised due to Alcohol Annually
One of the reasons why the enforcement of Responsible Service of Alcohol laws are so important, particularly in Victoria is because over the past year 30,000 citizens of the state have been hospitalised due to excessive alcohol consumption, according to new data.
According to data compiled by the organisation Turning Point, most of those hospitalised due to excessive alcohol consumption were men but the number of women also landing in hospital because of their drinking behaviour has also climbed.
The data indicated that during the years 2010 – 2011 the number of alcohol related inpatient hospitalisations reached 29,694. Also these people spent an average of 4 days in hospital, taking up beds that could have been used by people who natural sicknesses not self-induced due to excessive drinking. The data shows that 113,117 hospital bed days were wasted as a resulted on excessive alcohol consumption.
According to the director of Turning Point, Professor Dan Lubman these results are a warning of the dangers of excessive drinking, especially over the holiday period. He was quoted by an article in Couriermail.com.au as saying:
“While most people are able to consume alcohol in moderation, the decision-making part of your brain becomes less effective the more you drink,” Prof Lubman said.
“There is a clear link between intoxication and increased rates of road accidents, injuries and assaults.”
Prof Lubman said there was a big jump in the number of women being hospitalised.
“While most people are able to consume alcohol in moderation, the decision-making part of your brain becomes less effective the more you drink,” Prof Lubman said.It seems as though the number of people being hospitalised each year because of alcohol is growing steadily. The trend is particularly growing among women, as the report detailed with women between 40 and 44 years old and 50 and 54 years old most prone to hospitalisation due to alcohol.
In 2001/02 there were 6727 women hospitalised for alcohol-related incidents, but by 2010/11 that number had jumped to 11,484.
Men aged between 50 and 60 years were the most likely group to be hospitalised, the research showed.
For women, those aged between 40 and 44 years and 50 and 54 years are the most likely to end up in hospital for alcohol related reasons.
As alcohol servers it is important to note not only the social woes being caused by excessive alcohol consumption but also the fact that mature women and men are some of the most problematic when it comes to drinking in excess.
Some waitrons, bar staff and other RSA staff often focus on enforcing the rules of responsible alcohol service on young patrons and customers who may be underage but it is equally important to ensure that those more mature patrons are also being monitored.
Responsible service of alcohol involves not serving anyone so much alcohol that they become unduly intoxicated, this must be enforced regardless of the age or gender of the patron, because as this report points out people who are more advanced in age aren’t necessary more prone to make better and more responsible decisions when it comes to alcohol.
