Eric Ollerenshaw, Member of Parliament for Lancaster and Fleetwood, yesterday welcomed the news that the Royal Lancaster Infirmary will be launching a new liaison service for patients attending hospital who have alcohol related issues.
The new service will monitor patients, admitted to the hospital for any reason, with alcohol dependency as well as offering referrals to community-based services in order to provide long-term help for patients with alcohol dependency issues.
The estimated cost to the NHS in Lancashire from alcohol related issues is more than £140million, with the number of alcohol related admissions continuing to increase.
Eric said:
I think the launch of this service is excellent news for our local area – launching the Alcohol Liaison Service can only help those people who do suffer from alcohol dependency and it is great to see our local hospital continuing to do all it can to help them. That the hospital is working with local community-based services is even better news, patients will have the chance to get the long-term help that they need.
