The relationship between deprivation and alcohol-related presentation at Accident and Emergency (A&E) over a three-month period

TY - JOUR

T1 - The relationship between deprivation and alcohol-related presentation at Accident and Emergency (A&E) over a three-month period

AU - Dolan, R

AU - Paterson, B

N1 - Publisher Copyright: © 2015, The Author(s) 2015 Reprints and permissions: sagepub.co.uk/journalsPermissions.nav.

PY - 2015/5/1

Y1 - 2015/5/1

N2 - Objectives: To identify any relationship between deprivation and the level of presentation to Accident and Emergency with alcohol-related conditions in a busy East Coast teaching hospital in Scotland. Methods: Over an 87-day-period initial screening to determine whether alcohol played a part in each presentation was conducted at triage. These patients were then streamed according to their Paddington Alcohol Test (Pat) score into Pat +ve and Pat −ve groups. The postcode of each patient was recorded before they were assigned deprivation levels using the DepCat scoring system. This information was then compiled in Microsoft Excel 2003 and a graph showing the differences in the number of presentations across the social spectrum was constructed.Results: Nine hundred and forty four patients were screened as attending due to alcohol with 43.86% being Pat +ve and 56.14% being Pat −ve. Overall 66.42% of the Pat +ve group and 54.42% of Pat −ve were from deprived or very deprived areas. Conclusions: The use of electronic-based screening was effective at highlighting patients presenting to Accident and Emergency with alcohol-related problems, and these presentations highlighted a direct link between the level of deprivation and attendances.

AB - Objectives: To identify any relationship between deprivation and the level of presentation to Accident and Emergency with alcohol-related conditions in a busy East Coast teaching hospital in Scotland. Methods: Over an 87-day-period initial screening to determine whether alcohol played a part in each presentation was conducted at triage. These patients were then streamed according to their Paddington Alcohol Test (Pat) score into Pat +ve and Pat −ve groups. The postcode of each patient was recorded before they were assigned deprivation levels using the DepCat scoring system. This information was then compiled in Microsoft Excel 2003 and a graph showing the differences in the number of presentations across the social spectrum was constructed.Results: Nine hundred and forty four patients were screened as attending due to alcohol with 43.86% being Pat +ve and 56.14% being Pat −ve. Overall 66.42% of the Pat +ve group and 54.42% of Pat −ve were from deprived or very deprived areas. Conclusions: The use of electronic-based screening was effective at highlighting patients presenting to Accident and Emergency with alcohol-related problems, and these presentations highlighted a direct link between the level of deprivation and attendances.

KW - Alcohol

KW - brief interventions

KW - deprivation

KW - emergency department

KW - employment

KW - Paddington Alcohol Test

UR - https://www.scopus.com/pages/publications/84953343301

U2 - 10.1177/0036933014565584

DO - 10.1177/0036933014565584

M3 - Article

C2 - 25588383

AN - SCOPUS:84953343301

SN - 0036-9330

VL - 60

SP - 75

EP - 78

JO - Scottish Medical Journal

JF - Scottish Medical Journal

IS - 2

ER -