Covid lockdowns led to 'significant drop' in assaults at Cork EDs

No access to night life also meant fewer patients being admitted for alcohol-related causes, but domestic violence cases rose

Reduced access to night life reduced the number of victims of assaults attending emergency departments. Picture: Larry Cummins

Emergency departments in Cork hospitals saw a “significant reduction” during 2020 in the numbers of drunk patients and patients who had been assaulted.

A study, carried out at Cork University Hospital and the Mercy University Hospital during the Covid-19 lockdowns last year, found reduced access to night life impacted on the type of emergency cases treated.

The number of patients marked as “apparently drunk” dropped by 35% between 2019 and 2020. The study noted a 25% drop between 2018 and 2020 for this type of patient.

The study also found the number of patients triaged due to having been assaulted dropped by 35% between 2019 and 2020. There was an even more noticeable gap between 2018 and 2020, when the decrease came to 39%.

The study concludes: “Our results also show Government regulations having a positive effect on society, with reductions seen as discussed.” 

The author also highlights, however, that the lower figures may not reflect a fall in violence outside the hospitals everywhere, stating there was a “17% increase in reported domestic violence nationally from 2019 to 2020 but with less presentations to ED”.

Dr Eoin Fogarty, consultant in emergency medicine at CUH and author of the study, said previous research had shown an extremely high impact from alcohol on the numbers of people requiring emergency care.

“It is important to highlight that with the previous research, it showed that up to 30% of emergency department attendances on weekend nights were alcohol-related,” he said.

Alcohol-related injuries take up 1,500 beds

Dr Fogarty said this has been estimated to mean 1,500 hospital beds occupied every year due to alcohol-related injuries.

“This number of beds would be sufficient to empty emergency departments and have significant capacity to process patients waiting for inpatient care,” he said.

Dr Fogarty pointed to the experience in other cities when local governments restricted night-time alcohol access and called for further study on the Irish situation. 

The Irish study, presented at the Royal College of Emergency Medicines annual scientific meeting recently, references the Sydney lockout laws. These were in place between 2014 and 2021 in various parts of the city, with restrictions including bans on new entries to clubs after 1.30am and off-licence alcohol sales after 10pm.

The study states this “resulted in a reduction of non-domestic assaults by 53% in the Central Business District and 13% in Kings Cross”.