Letters: Drunks should be charged for using NHS services

The problem of drunks clogging up hospital A&E departments is so acute that those in charge of the NHS say it now stands for National Hangover Service.

By The Newsroom

Published 6th Jan 2017, 14:29 BST

Updated 9th Jan 2017, 12:01 BST

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Drunks are responsible for a third of A&E attendances, rising to 40 per cent at weekends.

Over two years ago the Royal College of Nursing (RCN) said that drunks should not be treated in accident and emergency departments because getting intoxicated “is no accident.”

Drunks are diverting A&E medical staff from more urgent patients.

The RCN suggested that ‘drunk tanks’ were needed over two years ago, so why no action by the NHS mandarins?

Drunk tanks must be set up all over the country and their ‘residents’ charged at least £200 for their overnight stay.

Clark Cross, Linlithgow