The number of alcohol-related visits to hospital has trebled since the introduction of 24-hour licensing laws, a study suggests.

The Government was accused of failing to tackle binge drinking after doctors reported a big rise in alcohol-related injuries at a large inner city hospital in London.

The new licensing law, which allows alcohol to be served around the clock, took effect in November 2005. It was intended to reduce heavy drinking at closing time and associated crime and disorder. However, researchers writing in the Emergency Medicine Journal today say that the legislation may have had the opposite effect, leading to a large rise in alcohol-related visits to accident and emergency (A&E) departments during the night.

The study, led by Alastair Newton, at St Thomas’ Hospital in Central London, was based on night visits to its A&E department before and after the change. In March 2005 there were 2,736 attendances at A&E during the night, of which 79 (2.9 per cent) were defined as being related to alcohol. A year later there were 3,135 attendances in the same month, of which 250 (8 per cent) were related to alcohol.

The authors said that the “significant increase” they found in their study was likely to reflect the situation at other inner city hospitals across Britain and gave warning of “very substantial” numbers of additional patients over time.

Opposition parties described the findings as “deeply worrying”, but the Department of Health said that other, more comprehensive, research had not suggested an increase in A&E attendances.

All patients aged over 16 who attended A&E between 9pm and 9am during either of the months were included in the research. They were defined as having an alcohol-related problem if they had drunk before going to hospital, or if they were intoxicated when examined or in their final diagnosis.

The number of visits arising from assault associated with excess drinking more than doubled between the two study periods, the researchers said. There were 27 alcohol-related assaults reported at the hospital in March 2005, rising to 62 in March 2006.

The authors said it was likely that the increase was in part related to the new laws. They called for longer-term assessments to help police and health workers to deal with the effects of alcohol. “The increase in alcohol-related problems we have recorded is the opposite of the effect the legislation was designed to produce,” they write.

“If reproduced over longer time periods and across the UK as a whole, the additional numbers of patients presenting to emergency departments with alcohol-related problems could be very substantial.”

In February official figures showed that alcohol-related deaths in Britain had nearly doubled in the past 15 years. In 2004, 17.4 men and 8.1 women per 100,000 of the population suffered alcohol-related deaths. In 1991, 9 men and 4.8 women per 100,000 died from drinking too much.

A spokesman for Alcohol Concern said: “It was always unlikely that a change in opening hours alone was going to move us to a ‘continental’ style of drinking. If the Government hopes to make our streets safer at night, then it needs to prevent a saturation of licensed premises through planning laws and more proactive policing.” The spokesman said that licensees should offer cheaper nonalcoholic drinks, more food options and “cool-off” zones.

A spokeswoman for the Department for Culture, Media and Sport said: “This is one study from one hospital. It is misleading to say that this is representative for the whole country. More recent and more comprehensive reports from other areas have found the opposite – that the new licensing laws have not led to an increase in A&E admissions.”

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