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This is Victoria. She's 35 and has been drinking a bottle of brandy a | :00:36. | :00:44. | |
day. It's not sore. It's tender. Matthew's 45. 20 pints a day left | :00:45. | :00:48. | |
him needing a liver transplant. When Mr Richardson said, "Matthew | :00:48. | :00:55. | |
you're dying", I cried my eyes out. And Brian's 32. He drank so much | :00:55. | :01:00. | |
cheap cider, he ended up living in a cave. Grim place, isn't it? | :01:00. | :01:04. | |
This just looked like a normal home to me when I was drinking. | :01:04. | :01:08. | |
They're part of a new younger generation of problem drinkers. | :01:08. | :01:12. | |
are seeing people as young as those in their 20s dying of alcoholic | :01:12. | :01:13. | |
liver disease. Tonight Panorama gets rare access | :01:13. | :01:19. | |
to a hospital that's seeing the impact of drink on every ward. | :01:19. | :01:26. | |
Worse case scenario, it will kill you. | :01:26. | :01:29. | |
And we ask, are the Government doing enough to stop us drinking | :01:29. | :01:39. | |
:01:39. | :01:58. | ||
ourselves to death? Saw you awhile back, didn't I? I can't remember. | :01:58. | :02:01. | |
Must get that done today. It's Friday morning at Liverpool's | :02:01. | :02:09. | |
biggest hospital, the Royal. OK. Who do we have in here? | :02:09. | :02:13. | |
Liver specialist Paul Richardson is on his ward round. One of his | :02:13. | :02:22. | |
patients is worrying him. Is she still tearful? She is. | :02:22. | :02:31. | |
Her name is Victoria White. Morning. Hi,. | :02:31. | :02:39. | |
Victoria's only 35. She's got two children. But she's been drinking | :02:39. | :02:43. | |
heavily since she was a teenager. And this is her today. | :02:43. | :02:46. | |
Some people go their separate ways from alcohol. I didn't. I just | :02:46. | :02:54. | |
carried on with it. You're just selfish through drink. | :02:54. | :02:57. | |
As long as you're all right, you just don't care. You really don't | :02:57. | :03:07. | |
:03:07. | :03:10. | ||
care. Don't get me wrong. The kids were clean and, you know, clothed | :03:10. | :03:13. | |
and stuff like that, but that's besides the point. They need a | :03:13. | :03:15. | |
mother, not a drunk. Her eyes are yellow because her | :03:15. | :03:19. | |
liver's failing, and Victoria's been here before. She nearly died | :03:19. | :03:22. | |
five years ago and was told to stop drinking. | :03:22. | :03:28. | |
I was okay at first. I'd just have a couple and leave it, and then as | :03:28. | :03:31. | |
the days went to weeks, I just started drinking again. And here I | :03:31. | :03:41. | |
:03:41. | :03:44. | ||
am today. Just ruined by this substance that | :03:45. | :03:47. | |
I pour into my body. And her mother Debbie has watched | :03:47. | :03:52. | |
drink slowly take over her daughter's life. | :03:52. | :03:55. | |
When she was about 16, she started lying, saying she hadn't had a | :03:55. | :04:00. | |
drink, but, you know, you could smell it on her. You could tell. | :04:00. | :04:03. | |
We'd start finding, like, cans of cider, bottles of vodka in her | :04:03. | :04:09. | |
bedroom. She'd hide them under her bed. It wasn't like a few glasses | :04:09. | :04:19. | |
:04:19. | :04:21. | ||
of lager. It was like bottles of vodka, bottles and bottles of cider. | :04:21. | :04:26. | |
And all that vodka and cider has left Victoria very ill. The doctor | :04:26. | :04:32. | |
has serious concerns. He decides to take Victoria's mum away for a chat. | :04:32. | :04:36. | |
What Debbie hears now is every parent's nightmare. Off camera | :04:36. | :04:46. | |
:04:46. | :04:53. | ||
she's told her daughter is getting I'd have expected to see | :04:53. | :04:56. | |
improvement by this sort of stage of her hospital stay, and | :04:56. | :05:02. | |
unfortunately, I've not seen the sort of progress that I'd like to. | :05:02. | :05:08. | |
Alcoholic liver failure is what used to kill old men. Now it also | :05:08. | :05:11. | |
kills young women. Paul Richardson says about two-thirds of his cases | :05:11. | :05:14. | |
are alcohol-related, but it is the trend that is most disturbing. | :05:14. | :05:17. | |
Cases of alcoholic liver disease in the under 30s have risen by half in | :05:17. | :05:21. | |
the last ten years. Both locally and nationally, people | :05:21. | :05:24. | |
who work in the field of hepatology have noticed an increase in | :05:24. | :05:26. | |
alcoholic liver disease - and particularly alcoholic liver | :05:26. | :05:34. | |
disease in a younger generation or a younger population, should I say. | :05:34. | :05:37. | |
We are seeing people as young as those in their 20s dying of | :05:37. | :05:41. | |
alcoholic liver disease, end-stage liver damage from alcohol. Now, | :05:41. | :05:51. | |
that was just not seen 30 years ago. So how did it come to this - with | :05:51. | :05:53. | |
alcoholic liver disease rising so dramatically and affecting younger | :05:53. | :05:56. | |
and younger people? Experts say it's down to our national addiction | :05:56. | :06:06. | |
- drink. It's everywhere. It's cheap, and | :06:06. | :06:08. | |
millions of people are drinking too much. From happy hours to | :06:08. | :06:14. | |
supermarket deals, alcohol is hurting the nation's health. | :06:14. | :06:17. | |
It's costing the health service about �2.7 billion a year, and in | :06:17. | :06:20. | |
fact about nine million people are affected by the harms that alcohol | :06:20. | :06:30. | |
:06:30. | :06:32. | ||
causes. So it's a big problem. It's not just words and statistics. | :06:32. | :06:35. | |
This is what we saw one Friday night in the Royal's A&E. We're in | :06:35. | :06:41. | |
Liverpool, but this could be anywhere. | :06:41. | :06:44. | |
He's been out tonight, and he's had at least half a bottle of vodka. | :06:44. | :06:47. | |
He's been found sleeping on the floor, and his friends have gone | :06:47. | :06:54. | |
home and left him. This young lady that's just come in | :06:54. | :07:00. | |
was found lying in the street by police totally by herself. No-one | :07:00. | :07:03. | |
with her, and she's been drinking a lot tonight - said at least a | :07:04. | :07:13. | |
:07:14. | :07:16. | ||
bottle of vodka. It is only 1.00am, so you never | :07:16. | :07:19. | |
know what's going to come in. The young in here have grown up in | :07:19. | :07:22. | |
a new drinking culture - a generation that's only known cheap, | :07:22. | :07:29. | |
readily available alcohol. What happened to you? | :07:29. | :07:35. | |
Have you been drinking tonight? She's been out tonight. She's had | :07:35. | :07:39. | |
quite a lot to drink, and she says a lot of vodka. And she's ended up | :07:39. | :07:42. | |
in Sefton Park and doesn't know how she's got there. Have you been out | :07:42. | :07:52. | |
:07:52. | :07:53. | ||
tonight? Basically, my brother Paul had a | :07:53. | :07:56. | |
fall this evening after a few drinks. One too many. | :07:56. | :08:00. | |
Hit the wrong kerb and went over. It can look comical, but the scale | :08:00. | :08:03. | |
is terrifying. A quarter of the adult population drinks too much. | :08:03. | :08:11. | |
It was my birthday. I had about four or five pints for my birthday. | :08:11. | :08:14. | |
We've got the problem if we have a lot of people intoxicated by | :08:14. | :08:17. | |
alcohol in the cubicles, we've got nowhere then to see patients that | :08:17. | :08:21. | |
need to be assessed and things like that. It's very difficult to know | :08:21. | :08:23. | |
why our culture has changed so radically, but all the | :08:23. | :08:26. | |
international evidence suggests that the big drivers for the amount | :08:26. | :08:28. | |
people drink, the amount populations drink, are the price, | :08:28. | :08:31. | |
the availability and the marketing, and that's what we've been trying | :08:31. | :08:37. | |
to push governments to - to look at their policies. | :08:37. | :08:40. | |
But how much influence can politicians have on our national | :08:40. | :08:43. | |
drink problem? Well, our Prime Minister has strong views on cheap | :08:43. | :08:47. | |
alcohol and the consequences of drinking too much. | :08:47. | :08:51. | |
And this is the stuff that you're talking about - Frosty Jacks. That | :08:51. | :08:59. | |
is three litres, 5.28 pints, 7.5%. And what would that cost me? | :08:59. | :09:05. | |
can get that for �1.99. �1.99. You drink that lot, �1.99. You'll be | :09:05. | :09:08. | |
completely smashed. In opposition, the Conservatives | :09:08. | :09:13. | |
were clear that price was an issue. Their manifesto said: Ban off- | :09:13. | :09:20. | |
licences and supermarkets from selling alcohol below cost price. | :09:20. | :09:23. | |
Before coming to power, the Conservatives set up a Health | :09:23. | :09:28. | |
Commission to find a new way of dealing with public health problems. | :09:28. | :09:31. | |
Invited onto the panel were those who make and sell alcohol sitting | :09:31. | :09:35. | |
alongside health professionals. One of those invited was Simon Capewell, | :09:35. | :09:38. | |
a professor of public health at Liverpool University. He joined | :09:38. | :09:40. | |
because he thought everything was up for discussion. But he says | :09:40. | :09:49. | |
that's not how it really worked out. Every time effective interventions | :09:49. | :09:51. | |
were discussed - legislation, regulation, taxation, subsidies for | :09:51. | :09:54. | |
healthy options - there was a polite nod, and then we moved on to | :09:54. | :09:58. | |
the next item, and of course, when we got to drafting and finalising | :09:58. | :10:01. | |
the report, all of these - the most effective interventions - were | :10:01. | :10:11. | |
:10:11. | :10:18. | ||
notable by their absence. But in power, the coalition | :10:18. | :10:20. | |
government clearly thought this more consensual approach was a good | :10:21. | :10:29. | |
idea. They called in the drinks industry and the health lobby. | :10:29. | :10:32. | |
So in theory, this would bring all of the interested parties together | :10:32. | :10:35. | |
- the drinks industry and the health lobby with the Government | :10:35. | :10:39. | |
listening and brokering a way forward. All sounds good. | :10:39. | :10:42. | |
The companies that make and market alcohol were represented, as were | :10:42. | :10:46. | |
the supermarkets. A number of health and pressure groups were | :10:46. | :10:51. | |
there too. But once again the allegation is real change was not | :10:51. | :10:53. | |
on the agenda. We put forward the suggestion that | :10:53. | :10:56. | |
the supermarkets should not stack huge mountains of alcohol in the | :10:56. | :11:01. | |
front of their stores. We put forward the suggestion that we | :11:01. | :11:03. | |
should have health warnings on alcohol adverts, that supermarkets | :11:03. | :11:06. | |
shouldn't advertise on the basis of price. All of these suggestions | :11:06. | :11:13. | |
from the health organizations were met with complete stony silence. | :11:13. | :11:16. | |
The health lobby also claim that the crucial issue of pricing was | :11:16. | :11:21. | |
off limits. Every alcohol expert in the world looking at the issue, the | :11:21. | :11:23. | |
World Health Organisation down, will tell you pricing and | :11:23. | :11:26. | |
availability are two incredibly important planks. So being told | :11:26. | :11:35. | |
that they were off the table was extremely worrying. | :11:35. | :11:39. | |
They were so concerned by what they saw and heard that in March of this | :11:39. | :11:41. | |
year many groups, including the British Medical Association, | :11:41. | :11:46. | |
decided to withdraw from the consultation process. I think it's | :11:46. | :11:49. | |
a tragedy. I think it's so sad because the goodwill of the health | :11:49. | :11:54. | |
lobby is enormous. The health lobby stopped talking to you because they | :11:54. | :11:57. | |
just felt you were way too close to the drinks industry. That's what | :11:57. | :12:01. | |
they say. They wrote to you and told you that. I'm really sad | :12:01. | :12:03. | |
actually that people stopped talking to us because it's never | :12:03. | :12:10. | |
productive. We have to talk to people that we disagree with. But | :12:10. | :12:13. | |
it's really important because actually when you look at public | :12:13. | :12:16. | |
health and alcohol is a public health issue, what we need to do is | :12:16. | :12:20. | |
to employ every tool in the box and everybody but everybody has got a | :12:20. | :12:22. | |
part to play. Now, since coming to power the | :12:22. | :12:25. | |
government has increased the tax on super-strength beer and has taken | :12:25. | :12:30. | |
the first steps towards banning drinks being sold below cost. But | :12:30. | :12:33. | |
the main policy document - the delayed Alcohol Strategy - is now | :12:33. | :12:36. | |
expected by the end of the year. So right now the government's deciding | :12:36. | :12:46. | |
:12:46. | :12:55. | ||
just how far it should go to tackle The problem comes with who it | :12:55. | :13:00. | |
chooses to listen to. For many of those on the front line at the | :13:00. | :13:03. | |
Royal any solution would need to be dramatic. They see a problem that's | :13:03. | :13:09. | |
moved a long way from just Friday nights, even Tuesday lunch is | :13:10. | :13:14. | |
dominated by booze. This is really common. They say at peak times, 70% | :13:14. | :13:19. | |
of A&E presentations are alcohol- related in some way, whether it's | :13:19. | :13:29. | |
:13:29. | :13:30. | ||
directly or indirectly. Kelly is 29. She's here with her younger brother. | :13:30. | :13:38. | |
They're both drunk. He's being treated for a cut. We have had a | :13:38. | :13:43. | |
drink and that we've had a few, two bottles of vodka and a crate of | :13:43. | :13:47. | |
lager, but it was my birthday, and on Saturday we just carried on. | :13:47. | :13:52. | |
Kelly's brother David gets back and explains the drunken game that led | :13:52. | :13:56. | |
to his fall. I swung around a lamppost, hit the lamppost, but | :13:56. | :14:03. | |
missed me foot and ended up on me chin. It was like a blood shower. | :14:03. | :14:07. | |
We're still going for a pint, aren't we? Let's just go and get a | :14:07. | :14:13. | |
pint and a packet of crisps. Overall, alcohol consumption is | :14:13. | :14:17. | |
absolutely fall but in our hospitals, alcohol-related | :14:17. | :14:22. | |
admissions continue to soar. Last area for the first time there were | :14:22. | :14:32. | |
more than a million. Alcoholed a mightss have doubled in a decade. | :14:32. | :14:37. | |
And every single case has a big ill pact on our Health Service. The | :14:37. | :14:41. | |
average in-patient costs �400 a day, so this unit at the Royal is an | :14:41. | :14:47. | |
attempt to reduce those admissions. You're still a little bit shaky. | :14:47. | :14:51. | |
Lynne Owens runs a team that works across the hospital with the | :14:51. | :14:53. | |
thousands that come here with alcohol problems. | :14:53. | :14:57. | |
Most people would imagine that most of your work would take place in | :14:57. | :15:02. | |
A&E, but in this hospital, which areas would you go to? There isn't | :15:02. | :15:12. | |
:15:12. | :15:14. | ||
an area we wouldn't go to - our coronary care unit and heart | :15:14. | :15:19. | |
assessment unit, alcohol plays a major role in sexually transmitted | :15:19. | :15:25. | |
diseases, orthopaedics, lots of broken bones. Clearly, | :15:25. | :15:28. | |
gastroenterology wards with all the gut and liver problems, so I don't | :15:28. | :15:33. | |
think there's anywhere that we wouldn't go. We need some LFTs, | :15:33. | :15:37. | |
full blood count, clotting screen, random glucose. At least nine | :15:37. | :15:47. | |
:15:47. | :15:48. | ||
million of us are still damaging We must have a look at how we | :15:49. | :15:51. | |
advertise and how appealing we make alcohol seem to young people. We | :15:52. | :15:54. | |
must look at pricing. It's absolutely crucial that we look at | :15:54. | :16:01. | |
how affordable alcohol is. that's the professional, what about | :16:01. | :16:06. | |
the drinker? Brian Collins is only 32. He's been in here for three | :16:06. | :16:13. | |
weeks with acute pancreatitis. He's about to go home. What were you | :16:13. | :16:17. | |
drinking before you came in? Up to 11 litres of strong cider a day. | :16:17. | :16:23. | |
day? Of 7.5 stuff. That's a huge amount of alcohol. That quantity of | :16:24. | :16:28. | |
alcohol is taking its toll. Your pancreas, it's a chronic condition. | :16:28. | :16:34. | |
You have it all the time, don't you? Alcohol sets it off, makes it | :16:34. | :16:41. | |
what we call an acute condition. I don't know what the pain's like but | :16:41. | :16:45. | |
it must be unimaginable. So all these health problems can all be | :16:45. | :16:49. | |
traced back to the alcohol, can't they? So what you need to think | :16:49. | :16:52. | |
about is how can you change things. Worst case scenario, it will kill | :16:52. | :16:55. | |
you if you continue this. Have you been told this before? They said if | :16:55. | :16:58. | |
I'd carried on I wouldn't have lived to see this Christmas. Brian | :16:58. | :17:01. | |
was treated by Professor Robert Sutton, another senior clinician | :17:01. | :17:05. | |
whose work is dominated by the impact of alcohol. In terms of | :17:05. | :17:07. | |
those people who have acute pancreatitis, then approximately 35 | :17:07. | :17:10. | |
to 40% have alcohol as the principal cause; and of those | :17:10. | :17:12. | |
patients who have chronic pancreatitis, then 60-70% of those | :17:12. | :17:22. | |
patients have alcohol as the principal cause. So a very | :17:22. | :17:25. | |
substantial number of our patients have alcohol at the root of their | :17:25. | :17:35. | |
:17:35. | :17:42. | ||
How long were you here, then? two-and-a-half months. A few weeks | :17:42. | :17:48. | |
after he'd been discharged, I caught up with Brian Collins. He | :17:48. | :17:56. | |
wanted to show us where he used to stay when he was drinking. Where | :17:56. | :18:02. | |
were you getting the money? I was going into town and begging. That | :18:02. | :18:06. | |
was like your job? Yeah, it was embarrassing and stuff like that, | :18:06. | :18:12. | |
it was really embarrassing in case you bumped into anyone but, the... | :18:12. | :18:15. | |
The illness and the problem was that bad that I couldn't do nothing | :18:15. | :18:19. | |
else. This is the place where I was actually staying. Here? Yeah, it | :18:19. | :18:23. | |
feels a bit mad now, looking at it, it looks a lot cleaner. So this is | :18:23. | :18:26. | |
where you stayed? Yeah. A cave. Yeah, that's where I was staying | :18:26. | :18:36. | |
and that. Let's have a look. So what time would you get here, then? | :18:36. | :18:40. | |
Just before dark or something, so I'd basically find it. I'd just get | :18:40. | :18:44. | |
right in at the back over there or over there and that and then if I | :18:44. | :18:47. | |
heard anyone coming round I'd get here. So where would you sleep? | :18:47. | :18:51. | |
sleep there, or over there but if I heard anyone coming round the park, | :18:51. | :18:54. | |
gangs, I'd get here so it was quicker to get out so you're not | :18:54. | :18:58. | |
trapped in, if anyone came in and I didn't have no cover or nothing. | :18:58. | :19:01. | |
What does it feel like being back in here now? It feels weird. I mean, | :19:02. | :19:05. | |
I think to myself now how bad and knowing what you've got, do you | :19:05. | :19:09. | |
know what I mean? And look at the state of it now. It is embarrassing, | :19:09. | :19:12. | |
like. Now, Brian drank strong cider - the drink that got David Cameron | :19:12. | :19:15. | |
so exercised before the election. �1.99. You drink that lot, �1.99. | :19:15. | :19:17. | |
You'll be completely smashed. Despite his shock, David Cameron | :19:17. | :19:20. | |
hasn't managed to increase the price of strong cider. Health | :19:20. | :19:25. | |
experts says that's what has to change - price and availability. | :19:25. | :19:28. | |
We're not trying to have alcohol banned, and we do know that | :19:28. | :19:32. | |
changing culture takes a long time. What we need to do is use the | :19:32. | :19:38. | |
levers we've got, and those are price, marketing, availability. | :19:38. | :19:47. | |
that could mean more legislation This is where the lines are drawn | :19:47. | :19:51. | |
on the battle of booze. The Government says the details of its | :19:51. | :20:01. | |
:20:01. | :20:02. | ||
alcohol strategy aren't finalised, Voluntary codes can get a bad name | :20:02. | :20:05. | |
when people then don't follow through. So ASDA, for instance, has | :20:06. | :20:08. | |
said that they will take alcohol promotions out of the front of | :20:09. | :20:12. | |
their shops. That's a good step and we need to monitor that, so | :20:12. | :20:17. | |
anything voluntary must be monitored. The issue here is the | :20:17. | :20:19. | |
irresponsible consumption - dangerous levels of consumption - | :20:19. | :20:22. | |
of minority groups. That is why the industry invests millions of pounds | :20:22. | :20:25. | |
in campaigns to try and change their behaviour. And why, hopefully, | :20:25. | :20:28. | |
the conversations around this are going to deliver some change in | :20:28. | :20:30. | |
other areas, including the introduction of more low alcohol | :20:30. | :20:38. | |
But the health lobby say the Government is too quick to listen | :20:38. | :20:41. | |
to those who sell and produce alcohol. Panorama has found | :20:41. | :20:45. | |
evidence that seems to demonstrate a trend. The Government and | :20:45. | :20:47. | |
Partners Alcohol Working Group might sound obscure, but their job | :20:47. | :20:54. | |
is to advise on the coalition's alcohol strategy. There used to be | :20:54. | :20:57. | |
just a couple of industry representatives around the table, a | :20:57. | :21:06. | |
clear minority. By autumn of last year, that had changed. Of the 16- | :21:06. | :21:08. | |
person group, the drinks industry has one, two, three, four, five, | :21:08. | :21:14. | |
six, seven members. Nearly half of those who attend who are not civil | :21:14. | :21:19. | |
servants. I can only imagine it's because this government believes | :21:19. | :21:22. | |
that the drinks industry has a big role to play in shaping policy, in | :21:22. | :21:25. | |
setting the agenda, and so they have extended the invitations to a | :21:25. | :21:31. | |
larger set of people from the drinks industry. Nearly half of the | :21:31. | :21:35. | |
people who sit on that are from the drinks industry. That seems to show | :21:35. | :21:38. | |
a growing influence. I think we have a communications problem in | :21:38. | :21:41. | |
Whitehall, because you know something that I have never heard | :21:41. | :21:46. | |
of before. It's surprising she's never heard of the group. On it are | :21:46. | :21:49. | |
senior civil servants from the Department of Health. Those who | :21:49. | :21:55. | |
produce and sell alcohol certainly know about it. What you've got now | :21:55. | :21:58. | |
is a bigger awareness amongst many of the larger companies, that it's | :21:58. | :22:01. | |
important for them to be involved in these conversations, it's | :22:01. | :22:04. | |
important for them to be seen to implement policies that are going | :22:04. | :22:09. | |
to be tackling what is a very real problem. This might sound like a | :22:09. | :22:12. | |
Whitehall debate, but this is about saving thousands of lives and | :22:12. | :22:20. | |
billions of pounds - changing society's attitude to drink. Liver | :22:20. | :22:28. | |
disease is now England's fifth So what happens when patients leave | :22:28. | :22:33. | |
here? Hospital is a false environment. There's no booze in | :22:33. | :22:40. | |
there. Outside, well, alcohol is a legal drug. We live in a drinking | :22:40. | :22:43. | |
culture. There's temptation everywhere. So how do patients stay | :22:43. | :22:53. | |
:22:53. | :22:58. | ||
This is Matthew. By 45 he'd drunk so much he needed a liver | :22:58. | :23:05. | |
transplant. They're expensive - �60,000 each. One in six liver | :23:05. | :23:14. | |
transplants in the UK is caused by alcohol. I was drinking maybe 15, | :23:14. | :23:18. | |
20 pints a day, seven days a week, which wasn't doing me any good at | :23:18. | :23:23. | |
all. Matthew was eventually referred to Dr Richardson at | :23:23. | :23:30. | |
Liverpool's Royal Hospital. When Mr Richardson literally said to me, | :23:30. | :23:33. | |
"Matthew, you're dying", it did sink in and I cried me eyes out, | :23:33. | :23:42. | |
cos I realised I've got family, you know. I've got people that I know | :23:42. | :23:46. | |
and I didn't want to die that early, I didn't want to die that early, | :23:46. | :23:50. | |
I've got to do something and the only way to do it then was to stop, | :23:50. | :24:00. | |
:24:00. | :24:04. | ||
Now he's had the operation, he faces a life without alcohol. | :24:04. | :24:09. | |
didn't think I'd make it. I thought to myself, "No, I need a drink, I | :24:09. | :24:12. | |
need a drink." And everywhere you look, telly and everything, there's | :24:12. | :24:22. | |
:24:22. | :24:25. | ||
drink, people are drinking on the telly, they're drinking, you know? | :24:25. | :24:30. | |
You're like, "Oh no, drink again, God, I want a pint." When I go on | :24:30. | :24:33. | |
Friday, I'll have to see him about the shakes. I've got this in my | :24:33. | :24:37. | |
mind, of the people I've got to really think of, is my wife, the | :24:37. | :24:40. | |
person who gave me the liver, especially, my wife, the doctors | :24:40. | :24:50. | |
:24:50. | :24:55. | ||
who've looked after me, my family Do you want one, Ben? Yeah go ahead, | :24:55. | :24:59. | |
then, lad. Matthew's having to show real strength of character. Alcohol | :24:59. | :25:06. | |
remains all around him. Sometimes he still goes back and drinks with | :25:06. | :25:12. | |
his mates. He drinks an orange juice - they've not changed at all. | :25:12. | :25:15. | |
To see him now from what he was before. Especially with his new | :25:15. | :25:25. | |
:25:25. | :25:28. | ||
teeth. I really miss having a drink. And it is hard to do it. We still | :25:28. | :25:32. | |
have the banter and that, you know? Yeah, as long as you're having a | :25:32. | :25:35. | |
laugh. All that matters, isn't it? It's a social thing, isn't it? This | :25:35. | :25:39. | |
is what we do, we all meet and have a laugh after a good day's work. | :25:39. | :25:42. | |
can't, I can't help him. Cos there's no way I'm drinking orange | :25:42. | :25:46. | |
juice with him. You know what I mean? But it's down to him. I don't | :25:46. | :25:50. | |
come out as much as I used to. I feel if I come here, I get a bit | :25:51. | :25:54. | |
tempted to have a drink but I've got to keep in the back of my mind | :25:55. | :25:58. | |
what I've gone through and that. Here's to staying off it. Good luck | :25:58. | :26:06. | |
to you. You'll do it. Across this city, across our country, we have a | :26:06. | :26:12. | |
difficult relationship with alcohol. Most of us like a drink, but a | :26:12. | :26:15. | |
large minority drink too much and the health service spends billions | :26:15. | :26:25. | |
:26:25. | :26:30. | ||
Shall we start with ladies? Victoria? A week ago, Victoria | :26:30. | :26:36. | |
White's life had been on the line, but she's improved. It's really | :26:36. | :26:46. | |
:26:46. | :26:53. | ||
sore, doctor. Slowly. It's quite swollen. Are you saw anywhere? My | :26:53. | :26:58. | |
hands might be a bit cold. I think there's been a lot of progress in | :26:58. | :27:05. | |
the right direction. Certainly the level of jaundice has fallen | :27:05. | :27:08. | |
considerably since when we last saw her, last Friday. She was very | :27:08. | :27:12. | |
poorly indeed and I was very concerned about her outcome. It's | :27:12. | :27:16. | |
been a tough week for her family. Horrendous. The thought of losing | :27:17. | :27:24. | |
your child. This has been the worst. That she's ever been. We tend to | :27:24. | :27:28. | |
have to help her when she comes out, we have to help her financially, | :27:28. | :27:31. | |
morally, we have to help her physically, we have to look after | :27:31. | :27:41. | |
:27:41. | :27:43. | ||
her. So, as the Government tries to help a nation give up its addiction, | :27:43. | :27:46. | |
will it as health experts fear listen too closely to the drinks | :27:46. | :27:53. | |
industry? We all need to do our bit. It's very sad, if the media just | :27:53. | :27:55. | |
think there's a conspiracy. There's no conspiracy. We want to reduce | :27:55. | :28:00. | |
the harm that is caused by alcohol. For Victoria, the harm caused by | :28:00. | :28:06. | |
alcohol is obvious. She wants us to look at her life and learn the | :28:06. | :28:12. | |
lessons. Young girls, young boys, their parents, before handing over | :28:12. | :28:22. | |
:28:22. | :28:25. | ||
�6, �7, �8 pocket money of a Friday night... Just for people to look at | :28:25. | :28:35. | |
:28:35. | :28:40. |