:00:07. > :00:15.In the next half an hour, we toast 2012 with a long hard look at booze.
:00:15. > :00:22.The region's lifesavers forced to look after the wrong sort of sick.
:00:22. > :00:26.You could be set we put me in a van with their confidence bags and a
:00:26. > :00:28.mop and bucket. Are unborn babies facing a lifetime
:00:28. > :00:31.of damage, thanks to the North's binge drinking culture?
:00:31. > :00:34.A person who drinks and damages their child? Yeah, it is assault to
:00:34. > :00:37.me. It is actual bodily harm to actually damage another person
:00:37. > :00:40.through alcohol. I think the person should be charged with that.
:00:40. > :00:50.And we lay down the challenge - can radio man Mike Parr stay off the
:00:50. > :00:53.
:00:53. > :00:56.booze, while the rest of us celebrate? That is cheating! Just a
:00:56. > :01:06.liqueur with a little cherry in each one.
:01:06. > :01:10.
:01:10. > :01:15.Stories from the heart of the North We like a drink here in the North
:01:15. > :01:18.East. The proof? Well, more of us end up in hospital thanks to drink
:01:18. > :01:22.than in any other part of the country.
:01:22. > :01:32.It is costing the NHS a fortune - and who would want to be on duty in
:01:32. > :02:04.
:02:04. > :02:14.I fell over, Mr my footing and fell over and hit my face. You were
:02:14. > :02:22.
:02:22. > :02:24.scared? What were you scared of? I am the senior doctor on shift
:02:24. > :02:27.tonight. Most of the admissions will have had some degree of
:02:27. > :02:30.alcohol or drugs. Unfortunately, over the years, I have seen a fair
:02:30. > :02:40.few deaths just through alcohol alone. We will just have to see
:02:40. > :02:44.what comes through the door. North East as the high as rate of
:02:45. > :02:54.under 18 is admitted to hospital in England. That is more than double
:02:55. > :03:04.
:03:04. > :03:09.It is a 12 or Friday night shift. I think we will be an for a busy
:03:09. > :03:19.night. Are you going to open your eyes?
:03:19. > :03:32.
:03:32. > :03:35.Can you see me? His friends say he was any nightclub. The norm. A
:03:35. > :03:45.roll-call it is incredibly dangerous than alcohol as at the
:03:45. > :03:46.
:03:46. > :03:55.centre of their leaves. I get a bit annoyed, because I can
:03:55. > :04:00.do a full weekend. I will not use the single paramedic skills during
:04:00. > :04:04.that time. You could be cichlid put me in the van with blankets,
:04:04. > :04:08.incontinence bags and a mop and bucket and that is all I would need
:04:08. > :04:13.for a weekend shift. That is because most people are incapable
:04:13. > :04:18.of knowing when to stop. Open your eyes for me. You know
:04:18. > :04:25.where you are? You are in hospital. What have you had to drink?
:04:25. > :04:34.Two firebombs. Firebombs? You need the toilet?
:04:34. > :04:36.Right, I'll help you with the toilet.
:04:36. > :04:46.30-year-old gentleman, having been assaulted, is coming in with large
:04:46. > :04:49.
:04:49. > :04:59.head injury. He is conscious, but agitated at the moment.
:04:59. > :05:06.
:05:06. > :05:11.You are in the hospital. Why are you moving your leg like that?
:05:11. > :05:13.Listen to us. You are in the hospital. You need to hold stills,
:05:13. > :05:16.so we can get you sorted out. What's going on?
:05:16. > :05:19.You have fallen over and hit the back of your head.
:05:19. > :05:29.You need to calm down. I have to put this needle in your
:05:29. > :05:31.
:05:31. > :05:34.arm. This 30-year-old gentleman has been brought in from town, having
:05:34. > :05:38.been punched in the face, fallen back, hit his head.
:05:38. > :05:41.He was putting the staff at risk. We could not manage him to give him
:05:41. > :05:44.oxygen and look after him from a head injury point of view. We have
:05:44. > :05:48.been forced to give him an anaesthetic, to allow us to scan
:05:48. > :05:51.his head and neck to make sure he has done no damage and is not
:05:51. > :05:55.bleeding inside his head. It does tie up a lot of people for
:05:55. > :06:03.quite a amount of time and it is very difficult to tell whether it
:06:03. > :06:08.is the head injury or the drink that has caused it. A North East
:06:08. > :06:18.has the highest number of will call related deaths in England.
:06:18. > :06:19.
:06:19. > :06:28.The frustrating thing is, you can be working in a busy department. It
:06:28. > :06:38.can be very frustrating when you have other patients. If the call
:06:38. > :06:38.
:06:38. > :06:44.comes in for someone who needs a stroke. The Arata lot more risk. We
:06:44. > :06:48.get diverted to them. It is annoying that you would think they
:06:48. > :06:51.would be intelligent enough to not get themselves so drunk that they
:06:51. > :06:55.are actually delaying treatment for someone else.
:06:55. > :07:01.They need an ambulance and need it very very quickly, because it is a
:07:01. > :07:09.time- critical illness. Listen, you cannot shout and swear
:07:09. > :07:14.like that in here. There is families and children here. The
:07:14. > :07:24.story is that he has been out to any club and gone to the police
:07:24. > :07:24.
:07:24. > :07:28.station because he ran out of money. Stop swearing.
:07:28. > :07:38.Don't grab that fella. What are you grabbing me for? What
:07:38. > :07:41.
:07:41. > :07:49.is the matter? You have a rest on their for now. Treating alcohol-
:07:49. > :07:54.related damage in Middlesbrough cost the NHS �12.3 million a year.
:07:54. > :08:04.Including the cost of policing, it works out at �650 per man woman and
:08:04. > :08:09.
:08:09. > :08:12.child in the region. We will have a look and see what is underneath.
:08:12. > :08:15.Do you remember it at all? I don't have a clue when I bashed
:08:15. > :08:18.my head. Don't remember nothing. Let us have a look at it.
:08:18. > :08:20.Ow, my head hurts. It is not going to sting, is it?
:08:20. > :08:21.It does sting a little bit. Owww!!
:08:21. > :08:31.Keep nice and still. Keep still.
:08:31. > :08:36.
:08:36. > :08:38.Keep still, keep still. Around 20 people need treatment in
:08:38. > :08:48.Sunderland Royal every year for human bites. That is double the
:08:48. > :08:56.
:08:56. > :08:58.number seen with animal bites. He had a bottle in his hand. Then
:08:58. > :09:07.there was about six people absolutely pummelled me to the
:09:07. > :09:09.ground. So you have been assaulted?
:09:09. > :09:19.Yeah. By more than one person?
:09:19. > :09:29.
:09:29. > :09:35.Yeah. That gentleman had to be scanned a knob and unfortunately it
:09:35. > :09:41.has shown he has a serious head injury. We will have to transfer
:09:41. > :09:51.into intensive care and keep an eye on hand. It is frustrating when you
:09:51. > :09:54.
:09:54. > :10:04.see a lot of people who just come back again and again. This evening,
:10:04. > :10:08.
:10:08. > :10:10.75 for 80 % of the cases in here tonight have been a alcohol-related.
:10:10. > :10:13.The man with the serious head injury spent four nights in
:10:13. > :10:16.hospital and, after more tests, he was able to return home.
:10:16. > :10:19.There were some pretty startling figures about the true price of
:10:19. > :10:22.alcohol in there. Your comments are always welcome. Just head to my
:10:22. > :10:25.blog to have your say. It is bad enough if drinking
:10:25. > :10:28.affects your own health, but it is estimated that 6,000 babies are
:10:28. > :10:31.born in the UK every year with brain damage because their mothers
:10:31. > :10:33.did not give up during pregnancy. With our region's notorious binge
:10:33. > :10:43.drinking culture, expectant mum Kirsten O'Brien has been
:10:43. > :10:54.
:10:54. > :11:04.He will come down in the morning and be bouncing about. He has to be
:11:04. > :11:05.
:11:05. > :11:10.supervised 24 or so day. It is a case of preparing for battle.
:11:10. > :11:13.would shout, scream, be pretty destructive.
:11:13. > :11:15.Three families trying to cope with children who have foetal alcohol
:11:15. > :11:19.syndrome, or FAS. Figures suggest one in 100 babies
:11:19. > :11:29.born in this country have a form of FAS, but most people have never
:11:29. > :11:30.
:11:30. > :11:34.heard of it. And it is completely preventable, as long as I was
:11:34. > :11:38.pregnant ladies lay off this. So what is FAS?
:11:38. > :11:40.It is brain damage in the womb caused by alcohol. It is the most
:11:40. > :11:43.common preventable disability in the world.
:11:43. > :11:48.Some of these children look a certain way, like four-year-old Ian.
:11:48. > :11:57.His mother was an alcoholic. He is being brought up by his
:11:57. > :12:07.grandparents. You can see he has got a smaller head than other
:12:07. > :12:09.
:12:09. > :12:13.children. And he has been non- existent fulcrum. He will have the
:12:13. > :12:19.number of problems growing up education wise. He will not
:12:19. > :12:27.understand mathematics, up money or the concept of time.
:12:27. > :12:32.People judge Ian's behaviour harshly all the time. Some of the
:12:33. > :12:36.people we have bumped into think he should get a clip around the ear
:12:36. > :12:39.and do not realise he has been damaged.
:12:39. > :12:49.Many children with FAS are in care. Sarah adopted her daughter three
:12:49. > :12:54.
:12:54. > :12:57.years ago. She knew she may have problems, but nothing prepared her.
:12:57. > :13:00.I had heard of it, but did not know really what it entailed. So we
:13:00. > :13:04.asked to see medical advisor with the adoption agency. When we went
:13:04. > :13:08.to see the doctor and showed us a picture, he told us to read a
:13:08. > :13:11.little paragraph and said she will be fine. But we knew she would not
:13:11. > :13:13.be fine, because we had already read that FAS is structural brain
:13:13. > :13:21.damage. I was surprised even visiting the
:13:21. > :13:26.GP they had did not seem to have an awful lot of knowledge. When I have
:13:26. > :13:29.had to visit hospital, I have had to explain what it is.
:13:29. > :13:33.Sarah had no idea her two adopted children had FAS. She diagnosed it
:13:33. > :13:36.herself. I was watching a programme and they
:13:36. > :13:40.were looking at facial features and said that this person had FAS. I
:13:40. > :13:43.went straight on the computer had a look at what the symptoms were and
:13:43. > :13:47.it was just. "Oh my God, that is it."
:13:47. > :13:52.Sarah is starting a support group for families on Teesside. The first
:13:52. > :13:55.meeting is a few days' away. It is that multiple voice thing. It
:13:56. > :14:01.is like one man standing in the dark - nobody listens, nobody hears
:14:01. > :14:11.you. It is like banging your head against a brick wall.
:14:11. > :14:25.
:14:25. > :14:31.So why does alcohol damage the If you drink a glass of wine, it
:14:31. > :14:37.goes straight into the baby, unprocessed. If you compare a child
:14:37. > :14:42.with FAS, the brain compared with a child that does not have it, the
:14:42. > :14:47.brain looks smoother, without the ragged edges you get on a normal
:14:47. > :14:50.brain. Most people think you have to be an are garlic for it to be a
:14:50. > :14:55.problem but one binge drink and the wrong point of your pregnancy and
:14:55. > :15:02.you could damage retard Rafa. -- an alcoholic. Quite a few people would
:15:02. > :15:07.be surprised to know that two glasses of wine are enough to
:15:07. > :15:12.damage your baby. Is that all? I think women here will find that
:15:12. > :15:18.quite a shock, considering we have the largest number of female binge
:15:18. > :15:24.drinkers in this region. 17 % of the women here admit to binge
:15:24. > :15:29.drinking. The average for England is 13 %. We have quite a drinking
:15:29. > :15:32.culture in the North East and it is a timebomb waiting to explode.
:15:32. > :15:36.nearing the end of my pregnancy now and just through personal
:15:36. > :15:40.preference, I have decided not to drink, not through any medical
:15:40. > :15:44.advice on was given. Having done a little research now, I'm quite
:15:44. > :15:49.terrified that had I done any major drinking, I could potentially have
:15:50. > :15:57.given my unborn child brain damage. We are going to stand aside on
:15:57. > :16:02.today... Do some legwork. I have got a pile of pregnancy books under
:16:02. > :16:09.the bed. I know not to eat raw eggs and blue cheese but I have no idea
:16:09. > :16:13.of the damage alcohol could read in the womb. Am I alone? I never had
:16:13. > :16:18.more than one or two spritzers. But a friend opened a new business and
:16:18. > :16:22.had a couple that night, and had my birthday so I had a couple that
:16:22. > :16:29.night, but generally, I found it was all right. No one ever
:16:29. > :16:33.questioned as on it. I drank on my husband's birthday, not excessively,
:16:33. > :16:41.but about four glasses of wine and I did not know I was pregnant.
:16:41. > :16:45.the midwives at any stage say, are you drinking? No. Have you heard of
:16:45. > :16:50.foetal alcohol syndrome? I presumed that was for a heavy drinker,
:16:50. > :16:54.having bottles and bottles. How did you find out about it? Just on the
:16:54. > :17:01.telly or something. Certainly not through any body for medical all
:17:01. > :17:06.midwives. My final question, which baby am are going to get a go on?
:17:06. > :17:11.Come on! But lots of women to drink and
:17:11. > :17:17.their babies are fine. It is a lottery. The. East we need to know
:17:17. > :17:22.the risks. Even the Government's advice is confusing. Although it
:17:22. > :17:27.says women or those -- women brewer pregnant or trying to conceive
:17:27. > :17:32.should avoid alcohol, it does say that if they do drink, one ought to
:17:32. > :17:36.units once or twice a week is OK, and they should not get drunk.
:17:37. > :17:42.think the problem is that one or two women -- many women think one
:17:42. > :17:45.or two units is one or two drinks. The Government is saying even one
:17:45. > :17:49.glass of wine is too much but not many people read it like that. The
:17:49. > :17:54.anyway to know you were not doing your baby any harm is to not drink
:17:54. > :18:00.at all. Ian's grand that wants to change the law. He thinks women who
:18:00. > :18:06.drink when pregnant should be held criminally responsible. Yes, it is
:18:06. > :18:10.actual bodily harm. The person should be charged. Do you think
:18:10. > :18:14.that women who knowingly drink through their pregnancy should
:18:14. > :18:19.maybe be prosecuted? I think you would have to be very careful how
:18:19. > :18:23.you did it because, for me, women might go more underground and not
:18:23. > :18:30.make their habits known and what we want is Renault blamed culture Wedd
:18:30. > :18:35.these women come forward and asked for help and support. -- we want a
:18:35. > :18:40.no blame culture back for. Mackenzie runs a clinic for women
:18:40. > :18:46.who drink during pregnancy. I would say that if someone really cannot
:18:46. > :18:49.bear the thought of no alcohol for nine months, they have an alcohol
:18:49. > :18:54.problem, and we need to see them. The Department of Health says there
:18:54. > :18:58.is already plenty of information out there and that women should be
:18:58. > :19:02.told about the implications of drinking during pregnancy at their
:19:02. > :19:07.first midwife appointment. They are also working with the alcohol
:19:07. > :19:11.industry to get pregnancy warnings on most bottles of booze by 2013.
:19:11. > :19:16.The first meeting of the Teesside support groupies crowded. Because
:19:16. > :19:21.many children with FAS are in care, we cannot film the meeting, but
:19:21. > :19:28.already it feels invaluable. have having to go down this road or
:19:28. > :19:32.run your own. It is really daunting. But having support groups like this,
:19:32. > :19:36.it is like coming home. This has been a massive learning curve for
:19:36. > :19:39.me and am really pleased I decided not to drink through my pregnancy
:19:39. > :19:43.because what has surprised me the most is how little we pregnant
:19:43. > :19:47.women know about the damage that can be done to our babies from
:19:47. > :19:53.drinking alcohol, so for me, that is the thing that really needs to
:19:53. > :20:01.change. And Kirsten, I am delighted to say,
:20:01. > :20:05.had a healthy baby boy. If your new year's resolution was
:20:05. > :20:10.to abstain from alcohol, I wonder how you have been doing. But how
:20:10. > :20:15.about giving up booze before Christmas? A tall order? That was
:20:15. > :20:20.the challenge that we set BBC Tees radio presenter Mike Parr.
:20:20. > :20:26.If welcome to might's bar. This is my average consumption in a week.
:20:26. > :20:31.On Monday, half a bottle of red wine, Tuesday, another half, when
:20:31. > :20:35.state another half, Thursday another half. Friday, up two PTS of
:20:35. > :20:40.real ale, and another half bottle of wine. Saturday it gets quite
:20:40. > :20:44.heavy, and Sunday I am back to another half bottle of red wine. I
:20:44. > :20:47.am giving all this up for the month of December. What the hell am I
:20:47. > :20:51.doing? Before this nightmare begins, I am
:20:51. > :20:56.joining some kindred spirits for one last drink and a peep into the
:20:56. > :20:59.future. Auriole is a medical photographer. She has predicted, on
:20:59. > :21:09.current consumption, what I will look like in ten years' time, and
:21:09. > :21:11.
:21:11. > :21:16.reddened cheeks, and some deeper jowls and wrinkles. I have gone
:21:16. > :21:20.already under my eyes, with a red nose. There is a real sense of
:21:20. > :21:26.redness around the nose and the cheek area. Broken blood vessels
:21:26. > :21:35.where the blood vessels dilate when the dream too much. -- When you
:21:35. > :21:45.I am going to make this the last one. Good luck. This is the last
:21:45. > :21:46.
:21:46. > :21:50.one! You will be drinking on the train on the way home!
:21:50. > :21:55.Good morning. We are talking about booze Britain this morning. I am
:21:55. > :21:58.giving up booze for a month. I am having a dry December. More and
:21:58. > :22:02.more people in their thirties are now in hospital with liver problems.
:22:02. > :22:08.Could you give up booze for a month?
:22:08. > :22:17.At the start of the month, my local GP gives me the once-over. 96. I
:22:17. > :22:21.thought I was more like 92. Cruel but fair. Over the next month, I am
:22:21. > :22:27.hoping to lose weight and may be reduce my blood pressure. That is
:22:27. > :22:32.pretty good. It is well in the normal range. So what is it about
:22:32. > :22:37.your drinking that causes you concern? I am concerned I have
:22:37. > :22:43.fallen into this habit of using booze to relax at the end of the
:22:43. > :22:48.day. Looking through all this, it is not particularly excessive. By
:22:48. > :22:53.noughties and standards, it is quite moderate, but it still comes
:22:53. > :22:56.to 37 units. It should be 20. is nearly double. You are cutting
:22:56. > :23:03.it down to absolute oozy red and socially that will be quite tough.
:23:03. > :23:08.You will have to be strict with yourself. I consider myself to be a
:23:08. > :23:12.moderate drinker but it turns out I am on double the recommended amount.
:23:12. > :23:16.Quite a shock. It is amazing what you develop a taste for when you
:23:16. > :23:23.give up drink. They are liqueurs. That is
:23:23. > :23:27.cheating! No, it is not. Look, there is no... All right, it is
:23:27. > :23:32.just a liqueur and a little cherry in each one.
:23:32. > :23:35.I have been off the booze for two weeks now. I am feeling full of vim
:23:35. > :23:45.and vigour so I thought I would make the most of things and go for
:23:45. > :23:45.
:23:45. > :23:50.a run. Well, so far so good. I have not given in to temptation and I'm
:23:50. > :23:55.getting fit and healthy. I think I am doing all right but what is the
:23:55. > :23:58.verdict from home? Yes, I think you are a bit different. Sometimes you
:23:58. > :24:05.are a bit morose because we cannot go out and have a drink together,
:24:05. > :24:11.or you do not want to drink alone. You look really healthy and sleep
:24:11. > :24:15.better and are fitter. So, I have been drinking more than is good for
:24:15. > :24:18.me, and so are many young people in the North East. I have come to the
:24:18. > :24:22.Royal Victoria Infirmary in Newcastle when many are treated.
:24:22. > :24:26.Once you start drinking too much, do you get fat infiltration in the
:24:26. > :24:31.liver. This Levet is nearly double the size it should be and it is
:24:31. > :24:36.rather yellow in colour because there is a lot of fat infiltration.
:24:36. > :24:40.That rapidly progress is to this next stage and it causes all this
:24:40. > :24:44.scar tissue and the knobbly appearance on the surface. And are
:24:44. > :24:47.you really seen people in their twenties with liver disease?
:24:47. > :24:55.youngest patient I have had that has died of liver disease,
:24:55. > :24:59.alcoholics are races, was only 19. I have given up the booze for
:24:59. > :25:03.December but I will go back to it in the New Year. Do you have any
:25:03. > :25:09.advice? You should have two or three alcohol-free days and you
:25:09. > :25:12.should also try to get down from the 37 units more towards the 21
:25:12. > :25:22.units which would be completely safe. This is what have been
:25:22. > :25:25.
:25:25. > :25:32.dreading. Without a drink, the BBC Tees Christmas party. I would not
:25:32. > :25:36.do it. December, of all months. No way! Could you do it? No. That was
:25:36. > :25:40.the most difficult bit. Middlesbrough town centre on a
:25:40. > :25:43.Friday night, going for a few drinks with my mates and after a
:25:43. > :25:49.couple of hours they have all had a bit to drink and they are making no
:25:49. > :25:52.sense! So I think it is time to go home.
:25:52. > :25:58.In it is 7:30am on Christmas Day. The rest of the family are still
:25:58. > :26:03.asleep upstairs. I have got a confession to make. I was out at an
:26:03. > :26:10.Italian restaurant in Darlington last night with the family and had
:26:10. > :26:12.a glass and a half of red wine. Happy Christmas.
:26:12. > :26:16.On Christmas Day I was back on the straight and narrow, for most of
:26:16. > :26:18.the day. It is Boxing Day. I am really
:26:19. > :26:24.annoyed. I went through Christmas Day drinking water and then late
:26:24. > :26:28.last night I gave in to a little nip of port. I am really
:26:28. > :26:35.disappointed. Finally, it is New Year's Eve and
:26:35. > :26:45.my journey of capstans is almost over. -- abstinence. To Anna's 26
:26:45. > :26:55.minutes to go. How many glasses of champagne have you got there?
:26:55. > :27:02.
:27:02. > :27:11.Yes, you're drinking for two. Happy New Year. It is 12 o'clock. Cheers.
:27:11. > :27:17.Cheers. Oh, it has been a month! How good is this going to be! No,
:27:17. > :27:21.net! But a few days later, there was
:27:21. > :27:24.another unexpected twist in this tale. My weight was roughly the
:27:24. > :27:29.same and my blood pressure was down a bit but there was something else.
:27:29. > :27:35.I discovered Abbas to stringing out of habit more than anything else. -
:27:35. > :27:38.- I was drinking out of habit. The anticipation of the drink on New
:27:38. > :27:43.Year's Eve meant it tasted great but I did not want to drink much
:27:43. > :27:47.more than a pint of lager. I have not wanted to drink much more since.
:27:47. > :27:51.You found out that a lot of your drinking his social and habit
:27:51. > :27:54.rather than necessary because you really want a drink and like its
:27:54. > :27:58.effects. If you stay of the beer, your weight will go down.
:27:58. > :28:02.Everything else will start to fall into place, I think.
:28:02. > :28:06.Congratulations. I think I can now really cut down
:28:06. > :28:11.on my intake, listening to the advice I have had over the past
:28:11. > :28:18.month. There will be alcohol-free days and I will subsequently cut
:28:18. > :28:23.down on the number of units. That is it for tonight. If this
:28:23. > :28:29.show has brought up issues for you surrounding alcohol, there is a