A&E units brace for Paddy’s Day binge

Claire O’Sullivan

Already, staff at overcrowded A&Es expect today will be like “a busy Friday night” with heavy drinking leading to car crashes, injuries and fighting.

“The last three years have seen a very big increase in the volume of patients on St Patrick’s Day and we don’t see why this year will be any different,” said Mater Hospital A&E consultant Eamonn Brazil. “Any efforts being made to curb the culture of binge drinking just don’t seem to be working and the Tánaiste’s 10-point plan isn’t making any difference either to the numbers on trolleys.”

Up to 365 patients were on trolleys at casualty wards yesterday.

Fine Gael’s health spokesman, Dr Liam Twomey said: “This weekend looks set to be a nightmare for both staff and patients in hospitals all over the country. Such figures are never normally seen at this time of the year.”

Gardaí have also mounted a St Patrick’s Bank Holiday Road Safety Campaign with extra checkpoints to monitor drink-driving, speeding, seatbelt-wearing and motorcycle safety.

Last St Patrick’s weekend, five people died and 90 were injured on the roads. In the first three months of this year, 84 people died in road accidents.

In Cork, extra gardaí will be on duty to help prevent street fighting.

“Last year, we found that there was a lot of trouble early at around teatime due to daytime drinking. This year, we’re drafting in extra gardaí. We’re also reminding publicans not to serve drunken people,” said a garda spokesman.

Dr Brazil estimated that up to 60% of weekend injuries were drink-related while 10-20% of all A&E patients have drink-related injuries. “It is mostly young men who are the main offenders who will suffer serious personal injuries or end up in fights. In older men, we regularly see the long-term effects like cirrhosis of the liver,” he said.