Doctors call for 50p minimum unit price

Doctors are urging the UK government to introduce a 50p minimum unit price for alcohol to tackle the country’s “impact of excessive alcohol consumption”.

In a letter to The Telegraph, 20 senior health professionals have called on the Government to take action in a bit to reduce alcohol-related admissions to A&E and relieve pressure.

The letter states: “The current A&E crisis is being compounded by the failure of policymakers to tackle the impact of excessive alcohol consumption. However, successive governments have failed to enact evidence-based policies that would save lives and ease pressure on the health, policing and criminal justice systems.”

The proposed minimum price was previously 45p, which researchers from the University of Sheffield said last year would be 50 times more effective in combatting alcohol misuse than current measures, save 624 lives and prevent 23,700 hospital admissions.

A 45p minimum is expected to reduce harmful drinkers’ consumption by 3.7%, or 137 units per year, while increasing the price of 23.2% of units sold, compared to the current figure of 0.7% due to a ban on below cost selling. A 50p per unit minimum would mean most bottles of wine or four-packs of strong lager could not be sold for less than £4.50.

The doctors continued: “A 50p minimum unit price for alcohol, regulation to protect children from alcohol marketing, improved alcohol labelling and the establishment of alcohol care teams with specialist consultants and nurses are simple measures, none of which would punish responsible drinkers, that must be adopted urgently in order to reduce pressures on A&E departments.”

A minimum alcohol unit price was considered in 2012 but rejected in 2013 on the basis that there was not enough evidence that it would be effective in reducing harm.