COLIN CAMPBELL: Highland booze burden hits NHS as Craig Dunain is missed more than ever
In a Courier column Dr Tim Allison, NHS Highland director of public health and policy, wrote of the burden that alcohol is placing on the health service.
"Drugs and alcohol are having a big effect on the health of people both locally and nationally," he said. "We have large numbers of people admitted to hospital due to the direct effects of alcohol consumption."
I was well primed to absorb health news at the time because I'd just come out of Raigmore after a five-day stay as a patient there.
I was moved between wards but there were six beds in the one I spent most time in, and two of them were occupied by patients who were there because of drink.
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In the decades when Craig Dunain was still in operation people with drink problems ended up there. It had vast capacity and plenty resources and those afflicted could dry out in their own time.
But then in 1989, almost tragically it seems now, the hospital was earmarked for closure and after being gradually phased out it finally shut down 25 years ago. Nothing has emerged to adequately replace it. The much smaller New Craigs is nearly always full. And so we have those with drink problems ending up in hospitals like Raigmore.
Everyone is aware of the enormous pressures on the NHS. Given the waiting lists and demand for beds and treatment people will have their own thoughts about the link between resources, bed space, and patients who have wrecked themselves through booze.
My own recovery has been accompanied by significant lifestyle changes. I didn't drink much before but I enjoyed an occasional beer, and have now decided to cut that out completely.
The stark reality is the older you get, the more necessary it is to avoid or minimise anything - from excessive physical workload to booze - which places undue strain on the system. Ignore that fact and a sudden, shocking jolt is liable to highlight the error of your ways.
There will be no age limits on those who take up hospital beds because of alcohol. And you can blot out reality as much as you like and be the life and soul of any gathering you choose to be part of but drinking and ageing do not go well together. In fact they are a very bad pairing indeed.
People have the choice to do as they will. But when their choices have a direct impact on other people's access to healthcare and treatment that brings about a very difficult situation. And never more so than now, with waiting lists at record levels.
But we all make mistakes, even very serious and very stupid mistakes. We would hope those in hospitals through booze leave and go on to lead healthier lives.
If, however, they are unable to or decide not to change their habits and go back on the drink, that's a sad, sorry and very different story.
No-one ever wanted to go to Craig Dunain. Before the advent of a more "enlightened" attitude towards mental health issues and substance abuse problems it was viewed as a forbidding institution very much to be avoided. But so many ended up there, and were greatly assisted on the road to recovery. Now reckless boozers take up bed space in Raigmore. And the loss of Craig Dunain still resonates as a public health disaster to this day.
