YOUNG people continue to turn up at the accident and emergency department at Orange hospital with injuries related to binge drinking.
YOUNG people continue to turn up at the accident and emergency department at Orange hospital with injuries related to binge drinking.
Last year the hospital treated more than 150 patients for injuries sustained as a result of getting drunk, or being assaulted by an intoxicated person.
“Those figures could be higher but we have no way of knowing unless we access all the individual files of patients and that involves privacy issues,” a hospital spokesperson said.
Emergency physician and director of trauma at Orange hospital Dr Brian Burns said despite intense media focus on young people and drinking, solutions still needed to be found.
“It just seems, for whatever reason, they aren’t listening,” he said.
Dr Burns said it was an urban myth that a person would not injure themselves when falling over drunk.
“Because they are drunk and can’t put out their arms to break their fall they can really injure themselves quite badly,” he said.
However, Dr Burns said the patients treated for alcohol-related injuries at Orange hospital were just a snapshot of what was happening across the nation.
“I know the government is continuing to look at initiatives to introduce as this remains a genuine problem,” he said.
Although the majority of patients who present for treatment are males, Dr Burns said women were increasing significantly in the data showing presentations at the hospital.
“They have too much to drink and fall over in the latest high heel platform shoes and are really injuring themselves,” he said.
janice.harris@fairfaxmedia.com.au