Three-year-old child treated for alcoholism

A THREE-YEAR-OLD child has been treated for alcoholism by staff at an NHS hospital.

The toddler, thought to be Britain’s youngest alcoholic, was among 13 youngsters aged 12 and under who were diagnosed as alcoholics by the Heart of England NHS Foundation Trust between 2008 and 2010.

Figures showed the trust admitted more than 70 children aged 13-16 for emergency treatment for alcohol abuse.

The Trust said a further 106 teenagers aged 13 to 16 were treated for addiction to alcohol during the same period.

Health managers declined to give details of the three-year-old’s condition due to patient confidentiality regulations.

A spokeswoman for the Trust said: “We treat alcohol abuse very seriously and have specialist teams and experts on hand who are there to treat young patients with alcohol-related problems.”

It came on the same day that health groups blasted a government initiative on alcohol which involves asking drinks firms to sign up to pledges to cut binge and underage drinking.

The groups, including the British Medical Association and the charity Alcohol Concern, accused the health ministry of letting the drinks industry dictate policy and condemned the pledges as neither specific nor measurable.