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Camden News - by RICHARD OSLEY
Published: 11 December 2008

Operation drunk lift?

Teams to tackle festive boozers

DRUNKEN revellers in Camden are causing more ambulance call-outs than ever before, new figures reveal.
Paramedics are now braced for what they fear could be their busiest party season ever, with more people being drawn to bars and clubs.
A new report released on Tuesday shows that call-outs to alcohol-related incidents has leapt by 16 per cent.
In the past year, 3,582 call-outs were caused by booze, compared to 3,088 over the previous 12 months.
Paramedics are now planning to work in teams over Christmas so that groups can be taken to hospital at once, rather than making individual trips running back and forth.
Camden Town and Bloomsbury are hotspots because of their high concentration of nightlife and, statistically, only neighbouring Westminster has a worse problem.
Camden Primary Care Trust has already agreed to trial the idea of stationing an ambulance permanently in Camden Town to deal with the beered-up and the bleeding.
Assistant director of operations Jason Killens is frustrated that one in 10 call-outs might have been avoided.
“We want people to have a good time but not on us,” he said. “It’s a sad reflection of the situation that we have to run vehicles and other services just to deal with alcohol-related calls but the fact is that these calls make it even more difficult to reach people who really need our help.”
He added: “It is very frustrating that our staff can be needed to spend so much time responding to calls that are potentially avoidable, as we need to ensure that ambulances are available for people with life-threatening emergencies.”

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