A&E to quiz patients on drinking

Many of our hospital emergency departments have over 2,000 attendances every month and are well placed to find out about people's drinking habits.

Dr Joe Barry, public health specialist in the HSE said: "Because we know that there are relatively high levels of alcohol consumption in Ireland, hospital emergency departments are a good setting in which to screen for harmful and hazardous drinking patterns."

Dr Barry, head of the Department of Public Health and Primary Care, Trinity College Dublin, said from yesterday people who attended at emergency departments in Waterford Regional Hospital, Naas General Hospital, Letterkenny General Hospital and Cork University Hospital would be asked about their drinking patterns

Dr Mark Doyle, emergency consultant in Waterford Regional Hospital said: "We piloted this scheme in the summer in Waterford Regional Hospital and it was very well received."

Source: Eilish O'Regan, The Irish Independent, 02/12/2009