Alcoholism treatment lacks money, staff

Press, 2 April 1980, Page 10

Alcoholism treatment lacks money, staff

Hospital-based programmes to treat alcoholics are desperately short of fin< ance and staff, the president o f the Medical Society on Alcoholism and Alcohol, (Dr Norman Walker) has said in Christchurch. Dr Walker, who is also director of the Mahu and Kennedy clinics at Sunhysde Hospital for the treatment of short-term and longterm alcoholic patients, said that unless more finance was made available soon normal services would be reduced to totally unacceptable levels. ~ ■ Moves by the Government and private groups to educate the community about the health problems of New Zealnd’s estimated 60,000 alcoholics were a vast improvement on previous efforts, Dr Walker said. "But paradqxially the' education and research leap forwatjd ;and .the increase in community programmes on helping ; the"' 'alcoholic and

problem drinker has greatly increased the workload of hospital-based units,” he said. Shoestring budgets, inadequate staffing, and drooping staff morale were poor partners to cope with alcoholism now recognised by health experts as the No. 1 health problem, Dr Walker said.- ? ■' TThe medical superintendent of Sunnyside Hospital (Dr J. A. Begg) said that he shared Dr Walker’s concern. The success rate of alcoholism treatment programmes at the hospital was almost 50 per cent of patients who had been at the hospital between 1972 and 1977. , "These people are no longer presenting themselves as health problems in our units or in. normal medical wards. Our success rates could fall, however, because we have serious staff shortages,” Dr Begg said. . Sunnyside Hospital’s alcoholism treatment pro-

grammes had no social workers and only a parttime psychologist. Many of the therapeutic processes at the hospital’s coholism units had had to be cancelled, Dr Begg said. The opening on April 14 of a detoxification unit at the hospital was a major step, completing a full range of treatment services for ah coholics in Christchurch. “We have a very good framework for alcoholism treatment in this city but some of it will be crushed if more money and staff are not available,” Dr Begg said. Dr Walker said that in Wellington alcoholism services were in a "very sorry state.” Work being done to assess alcoholics for treatment was almost pointless as Wellington had no public hospital facilities where treatment could be given. "By comparison Christchurch is much better off but we face serious problems,” he said.