:00:12. > :00:16.Britain's health is threatened by a hidden drinking epidemic. But these
:00:16. > :00:22.drinkers are not the usual suspects. We do say you are in control of
:00:22. > :00:28.your drinking? I don't think so. If I don't buy wine and the house is
:00:28. > :00:32.empty, I get desperate for a drink in the evening. An estimated 1.4
:00:33. > :00:37.million over-65ss are drinking too much. That is my age group, my peer
:00:37. > :00:43.group. It's would be panic stations, because I suddenly realised I did
:00:43. > :00:48.not have enough vodka to last me through the day. His hospital
:00:48. > :00:50.admissions of our older drinkers are significantly on the rise.
:00:50. > :00:54.many of the long-term conditions that build up as people drink more
:00:54. > :00:58.and more are now coming through, particularly in the older
:00:58. > :01:03.population. That is causing real health problems. We revealed
:01:03. > :01:07.research which shows that raising alcohol prices could save the lives
:01:07. > :01:10.of 50,000 pensioners. We might be on the cusp of an epidemic of
:01:10. > :01:16.people drinking problematically in old age.
:01:16. > :01:22.But hang on - growing old is no fun. Shouldn't people stop telling us
:01:22. > :01:32.oldies what to do? The old are drinking more than they should it?
:01:32. > :01:46.
:01:46. > :01:51.Last year, there were more hospital admissions for alcohol-related
:01:51. > :01:55.injuries and illness among the over 65s than among the 16 to 24-year-
:01:55. > :01:59.olds. How surprising is that? And older people have different
:01:59. > :02:04.drinking patterns. They are more likely to drink every day, more
:02:04. > :02:14.likely to drink at home, more likely to drink alone. And each has
:02:14. > :02:24.
:02:24. > :02:29.its risks. But there is social drinking, too. As members of the
:02:29. > :02:34.Fitzroy social club from Manchester appreciate. They believed yngling
:02:34. > :02:40.is best shared with friends. Today, we are all off on an outing to the
:02:40. > :02:49.seaside. So what is their attitude to drink? When I have had a few
:02:49. > :02:58.drinks, I like to dance. Just have a couple to get your adrenalin
:02:58. > :03:04.going. It is no use sitting at home on your own. To day more than 100
:03:04. > :03:12.people have turned out. A lively time for old friends, and for
:03:12. > :03:18.making new ones. If first stop, good old English breakfast.
:03:18. > :03:26.generation, women didn't go into pubs and clubs on their own. But
:03:26. > :03:31.after my husband died, after a few weeks, I decided to. A quick cuppa
:03:31. > :03:35.now, but as we will see, something stronger later. Old age is meant to
:03:35. > :03:39.be full of good things - grandchildren, the chance to enjoy
:03:39. > :03:47.retirement, friendship, good company, all the rewards of a long
:03:47. > :03:52.working life. It is like that for many of us. But for some, it isn't.
:03:52. > :03:58.In Dorset, Barbara lives alone, and her days are not filled with good
:03:58. > :04:06.times. She has recognised that she has a drink problem. I always drink
:04:06. > :04:09.red wine, because it is good for you. It is teatime, and 73-year-old
:04:09. > :04:17.Barbara has just cracked open a bottle for her first drink of the
:04:17. > :04:20.day. I really look forward to it. I have a couple of glasses while I am
:04:20. > :04:29.having my dinner, and another couple of glasses while watching
:04:29. > :04:35.the film. Barbara drinks up to a bottle a day. And moreover 65s than
:04:35. > :04:41.any other age group are drinking six to seven days a week. 5th 16%
:04:41. > :04:46.of them drink alcohol almost every day, compared with 40% of the 16-24
:04:46. > :04:51.age group. Barbara and her second husband Bob were all set to grow
:04:51. > :04:56.old together. They moved to France to enjoy their retirement.
:04:56. > :05:03.friends we made were mostly ex pats, and we found that most expats drank
:05:03. > :05:10.a lot. Everybody seemed to drink. 4 o'clock was around the time that
:05:10. > :05:15.you would have your first glass of wine. A few years ago, they moved
:05:15. > :05:22.back to Britain, and then Bob became ill. Barbara nursed him for
:05:22. > :05:29.two years before he died of cancer. Distraught and alone, it was then
:05:30. > :05:38.that her drinking spiralled. I was very depressed, very sad, bereft,
:05:38. > :05:43.really. I began to drink when he was ill to try and calm myself and
:05:43. > :05:47.suit myself. I used to just drink and drink. Barbara is drinking
:05:47. > :05:57.around four times the government recommended limit for women. Would
:05:57. > :05:58.
:05:58. > :06:03.you say you are in control of your drinking? I don't think so. No. I
:06:03. > :06:06.find that if I don't buy wine and the house is empty, I get desperate
:06:06. > :06:13.for a drink in the evening and I will go out and buy a bottle of
:06:13. > :06:17.wine. So I guess it is not in control, really. Loneliness drove
:06:17. > :06:23.Barbara to drink, and there are many more like her. Social
:06:23. > :06:27.isolation affects about 1 million older people. We know that old age
:06:27. > :06:32.can be a stressful time for some older people. They might experience
:06:32. > :06:36.multiple bereavement. They may have a shrinking social network. That
:06:36. > :06:40.can cause a small amount of daily drinking, the one drink every day,
:06:40. > :06:45.to escalate. And some older people developed alcohol problems for the
:06:46. > :06:53.first time in old age. But it is not always obvious to friends and
:06:53. > :06:55.family. We drink less in pubs, and in many respects, that he been
:06:55. > :07:00.drinking at home can be some of the most dangerous, because we don't
:07:00. > :07:06.know how much people are drinking, it is not regulated in any way, and
:07:06. > :07:10.the harm is built up as people drink more each night. Barbara's
:07:10. > :07:20.feisty and resilient. She knows she is drinking too much. She has
:07:20. > :07:20.
:07:20. > :07:25.sought help from a counsellor, and is now off travelling. Throughout
:07:25. > :07:30.my lifetime, alcohol has become increasingly accepted as part of
:07:30. > :07:37.work, friendship, family celebrations. Then along came the
:07:37. > :07:43.baby boomers, and they joined in. Many of us, including me here, have
:07:43. > :07:53.been drinking alcohol all our lives. It may come as a surprise to tot up
:07:53. > :07:57.
:07:57. > :08:02.just how much we are drinking. That is why I signed up to keep a
:08:02. > :08:09.drinking diary for the next four weeks. Honest, certainly. Reckless,
:08:09. > :08:17.possibly. It is the first day of my drinking diary. It is the weekend,
:08:17. > :08:21.and does lunchtime. So, first glass of wine. Great. I went out to
:08:22. > :08:27.dinner tonight. I was looking forward to it and intended to drink,
:08:27. > :08:32.and I did. We had a bottle of red wine between us. It was delicious.
:08:32. > :08:37.That is quite a large glass. When I do my drinking at home and I keep
:08:37. > :08:45.my drinking diary, I would call that a large glass. We are doing a
:08:45. > :08:53.drinking film. How many is this that you have had? Cut!
:08:53. > :08:57.Just how much do I drink? I will find out later. We oldies don't
:08:57. > :09:02.like being told what to do it. And frankly, as we are coming to the
:09:02. > :09:07.end of our lives, why worry anyway? We are told not to exceed certain
:09:07. > :09:12.units, but most of us are run clear run exactly what a unit is. And
:09:12. > :09:18.many of us are old people don't much care. However, it is probably
:09:18. > :09:24.less than you think. To be clear, a unit is a single measure of whisky,
:09:24. > :09:27.a third of a pint of beer, or half a standard glass of red wine. The
:09:27. > :09:33.Government advises people to drink no more than two to three units if
:09:33. > :09:39.you are a woman, or three to four units if you are a man. Some think
:09:39. > :09:44.the oldies should drink even less than that. When somebody ages, they
:09:44. > :09:47.have less water in their body. They will have more of an effect from
:09:47. > :09:52.that alcohol than if they were younger. We know they are more
:09:52. > :09:57.likely to fall when under the influence of alcohol. Older people
:09:57. > :10:05.frequently take medication, and alcohol-medication interactions can
:10:05. > :10:08.be harmful. And there is an even more alarming consideration.
:10:08. > :10:12.According to the Alzheimer's Society, excessive alcohol over
:10:12. > :10:16.long periods increases the risk of developing a dementia-like
:10:16. > :10:20.condition. Moreover, recent research suggests that even
:10:20. > :10:29.moderate alcohol use in late life can increase the risk of cognitive
:10:29. > :10:33.decline. People have talked about dementia, in that there may be
:10:33. > :10:35.small protective effects of very small levels of alcohol consumption.
:10:36. > :10:42.But that is debated and questionable at the moment. The
:10:42. > :10:46.reality is that dementia increases with the amount of alcohol you
:10:46. > :10:51.consume. Particularly with older people, people can confuse the
:10:51. > :10:56.effects of alcohol on a person with the simple ageing process. Drink
:10:56. > :10:59.has certainly had a catastrophic impact on Chris's health. The
:10:59. > :11:06.former university lecturer started out as a social drinker, but ended
:11:06. > :11:11.up in a wheelchair. Today, he is leaving a residential rehab unit in
:11:11. > :11:21.Truro, where after 12 weeks, he seems to have stepped back from the
:11:21. > :11:21.
:11:21. > :11:31.brink. Cheers, mate. At his worst, he was drinking a bottle of vodka a
:11:31. > :11:33.
:11:33. > :11:37.day or more. I see what happened before was sometimes frighten ing -
:11:37. > :11:43.- with sometimes frightening clarity. It really is quite painful
:11:43. > :11:48.sometimes. He has been through detox once before, and is hoping
:11:48. > :11:52.this latest stay, which he has partly paid for, will finally give
:11:52. > :11:58.him the resolve to beat his addiction. Chris's drinking became
:11:58. > :12:02.a severe problem once he took early retirement. You had a job in which
:12:02. > :12:07.you exercise due intelligence, so when did your intelligence tell you
:12:07. > :12:15.that things had gone too far? knew at the time that I was making
:12:15. > :12:20.a mess of things. I really didn't care very much on a lot of
:12:20. > :12:27.occasions. I said, to hell with it, and just carried on. I thought to
:12:27. > :12:30.myself, I have done my bit by family. I have done my bit
:12:30. > :12:36.teaching-wise. I am just going to slide into retirement and enjoy
:12:36. > :12:39.myself. But he didn't enjoy it at all. He didn't slide into
:12:39. > :12:46.retirement, but fell into the bottle. So what comfort was the
:12:46. > :12:53.drink? Obliteration. It was far easier just to drink a couple of
:12:53. > :12:59.slugs of vodka and turn the television on. If it was raining,
:12:59. > :13:06.that was a good excuse not to go out. A month gone by, and Chris is
:13:06. > :13:12.back for his weekly therapy with other recovering alcoholics. I am
:13:12. > :13:18.Chris. I have been at home now for five weeks, and I have been dry for
:13:18. > :13:24.six months. I am care. I have had a good week. I still have five weeks
:13:24. > :13:32.to go. Today, the group is listing all the positive things about being
:13:32. > :13:39.sober. It is lovely to drive my car now without being drunk. It is a
:13:39. > :13:43.great feeling. What outlook do you have to growing old now? I might
:13:43. > :13:50.have five or ten years, despite the abuse as I have subjected my body
:13:50. > :13:55.to. I am looking forward to doing some more computing and keeping my
:13:55. > :14:00.brain as active as I possibly can. If he is ever tempted to relapse
:14:00. > :14:05.again, his medical records are a sharp reminder of just how low for
:14:05. > :14:14.the drink brought him. Reading them with me, Chris can hardly remember
:14:14. > :14:21.his various crises. At no, I don't remember that at all. I was either
:14:21. > :14:25.going into hospital or being committed. "talks about his stay in
:14:25. > :14:30.hospital, which made him feel safe. Wants to go back because he knows
:14:30. > :14:40.he might get better their". Did you feel safer in hospital? Very much
:14:40. > :14:42.
:14:42. > :14:47.so. Because I was amongst people, Hospitals are dealing with more
:14:47. > :14:54.injuries amongst pensioners caused by drinking. There has been an
:14:54. > :14:58.increase in alcohol-related admissions for the over 65s.
:14:58. > :15:04.Hampshire Primary Care Trust has the highest number of hospital
:15:04. > :15:08.admissions in England for alcohol- related problems for the over 65s.
:15:08. > :15:16.That is why I'm here in Portsmouth. This hospital was so concerned
:15:16. > :15:20.about the levels of alcohol abuse in the area it drafted in expert
:15:20. > :15:25.Richard Aspinall and a team of four specialist nurses. One individual
:15:25. > :15:30.had attended hundred times in the last year. He had been to the
:15:30. > :15:34.casualty department. Drunk? Yes. And was effectively using the
:15:35. > :15:39.hospital as a drop-in centre. We were able to make a massive impact
:15:39. > :15:46.and sort of turn people's lives around. There is a lot we can do.
:15:46. > :15:50.Brian was a regular. A big deep breath in. He was often in-and-out
:15:50. > :15:55.of the casualty department in Portsmouth dead drunk. I think I
:15:55. > :15:59.was in this hospital more times drying out than I don't know who. I
:15:59. > :16:06.actually thought they were going to name a ward after me because I had
:16:06. > :16:11.been in that many times! How much were you drink something Up to two
:16:11. > :16:16.bottles of vodka a day. After intensive support from the alcohol
:16:16. > :16:22.team, he has turned his life around. He's been two years dry. There is
:16:22. > :16:27.still a legacy of ill-health. Today, he is having his liver checked.
:16:27. > :16:31.are concerned about liver dysfunction, manifestations of a
:16:31. > :16:36.fatty liver, or cirrhosis. That is what we are looking for. The liver
:16:36. > :16:40.has remarkable healing powers. And Brian is relieved his is now
:16:40. > :16:46.healthy. As a nation, we are drinking slightly less than we were
:16:46. > :16:54.ten years ago, but liver disease is the only major cause of death still
:16:54. > :17:00.increasing year on year. When the team audited its first thousand
:17:00. > :17:06.patients, it was shocked by threfl of alcohol intake. There was an
:17:06. > :17:16.intake of over 200 units. The highest weekly intake was over 700
:17:16. > :17:16.
:17:16. > :17:20.units in the preceding week. Last year, more than half, 57%, of
:17:20. > :17:25.elderly people referred to the special alcohol service were in the
:17:25. > :17:33.high-risk or severe dependency categories. Brian was one of the
:17:33. > :17:39.most extreme cases. Some mornings I couldn't walk, I was crawling along
:17:39. > :17:44.the floor just to get to the toilet. And then getting on to it, it was a
:17:44. > :17:54.nightmare, you know what I mean? For over 65s, hospital admissions
:17:54. > :17:54.
:17:54. > :17:59.for liver disease have risen by almost 50% in the last five years.
:17:59. > :18:05.We think of the very visible social disorder consequences of young
:18:05. > :18:10.people binge drinking on a Saturday night in our town centres. What is
:18:10. > :18:13.more hidden is quiet, below the radar drinking at home. It is easy
:18:13. > :18:23.for people to drink more than they are aware of, you know, to get
:18:23. > :18:28.above the safe limits. In fact, according to the Royal College of
:18:28. > :18:33.Psychiatrists, those current safe limits are too high for us oldies.
:18:33. > :18:38.Recent research suggests they should be halved for older people
:18:38. > :18:44.to just one-and-a-half units a day. Is that realistic?
:18:44. > :18:53.# Bring me sunshine. # I'm back with the Fitzroy Social
:18:53. > :18:56.Club. It is lunch time and we are off to the pub. We are going into
:18:56. > :19:01.the working men's club where we will all have a drink. To get the
:19:01. > :19:07.fun started, a free drink for all the members. A drink each at this
:19:07. > :19:12.club. It says a pint, but it is whatever you want.
:19:12. > :19:21.# Bring me fun... # For the daytrippers, it is a chance
:19:21. > :19:26.to quench their thirst. I'm drinking wine. Why wine? I only
:19:26. > :19:31.have a drink on a Sunday evening when we go out or if I have the
:19:31. > :19:36.family around for a meal. How much do you drink every day? Four pints,
:19:36. > :19:40.five pints, probably. Every day? Yeah. How much do you drink a day?
:19:40. > :19:45.I have two brandys every day. According to the hospital, I
:19:46. > :19:51.shouldn't be drinking that. I said, "Would you like me to stop
:19:51. > :19:57.breathing?" LAUGHTER I'm a whisky drinker. How much do you drink?
:19:57. > :20:04.not saying! I don't think I have come home ever rolling drunk! I
:20:04. > :20:09.might have been tipsy! So, back to my own drinking diary. It's been a
:20:09. > :20:15.busy four weeks, making this programme, socialising with friends,
:20:15. > :20:19.and holidaying with the family. LAUGHTER Come on, drink up!
:20:19. > :20:26.drinking at lunch time. But then we are on holiday. That's what people
:20:26. > :20:31.do! I have a glass of wine, that's what I have, and a second one
:20:31. > :20:41.occasionally. That is about it. It is every day. I have come in and it
:20:41. > :20:45.is quite late and I have helped myself to a glass of liqueur - not
:20:45. > :20:49.what I usually do. This programme is making me feel guilty! I'm
:20:49. > :20:53.inclined to agree with those who say, "Leave us alone and let us
:20:53. > :20:57.enjoy the pleasures of old age" but I'm learning there is a distinction
:20:57. > :21:05.between social drinking and addiction and how, in old age, it
:21:05. > :21:09.is easier to slip from one to the other. What's surprising is when
:21:09. > :21:19.someone who is neither isolated or lonely develops a drinking problem
:21:19. > :21:20.
:21:20. > :21:25.late in life. But it can happen. # She's in love with me and I feel
:21:25. > :21:32.fine. # Stuart loved his job working in a
:21:32. > :21:42.kilt shop in Glasgow. Without it, he suddenly felt unimportant.
:21:42. > :21:44.
:21:44. > :21:48.just felt that I was past my sell- by date. It was very, very hurtful,
:21:48. > :21:54.very hurtful. Remember that? Yes. Stewart had an active social life
:21:54. > :21:59.as an elder at Glasgow Cathedral, hosting visiting dignitaries such
:21:59. > :22:04.as Princess Margaret. He and Bill were happy celebrating their civil
:22:04. > :22:11.partnership in 2006. It was Bill who realised there was a problem.
:22:11. > :22:15.noticed a change in his actual appearance. He started to lose
:22:16. > :22:20.interest at keeping himself tidy. We had a healthy stock of red-and-
:22:20. > :22:25.white wine and that was going down. What was happening was it was being
:22:25. > :22:29.drunk but being filled with water and was being put back on the racks.
:22:29. > :22:34.The drinking culminated in a series of bad falls, in public, and at
:22:35. > :22:38.home. I found him in the back bedroom lying on the floor. He had
:22:39. > :22:45.fallen down in some way, hit his head and was bleeding from the nose
:22:45. > :22:54.and the mouth. He had suffered a brain haemorrhage. But with the
:22:54. > :23:03.help of the charity Add Action, he and Bill are slowly rebuilding
:23:03. > :23:08.their lives. Anne Morgan is one of the outreach workers. We knock
:23:08. > :23:14.doors, we come in, we see people in their own environment which tells
:23:14. > :23:20.you a lot about the person. Sometimes people underreport
:23:20. > :23:25.because of a sense of shame. I know. It was dreadful. Stewart gave us a
:23:25. > :23:30.picture and Bill gave us a bigger picture and we realised there had
:23:30. > :23:35.been quite an extensive period, long period, of overdrinking and
:23:35. > :23:38.problem drinking. I thought we might try that... This project's
:23:38. > :23:46.funding is under threat, but for now Anne is reintroducing Stewart
:23:46. > :23:50.to the things he loves. There's things to reconnect you with your
:23:50. > :23:56.wonderful creativity. We'll get a wee thing that looks like a
:23:56. > :24:01.programme. Right. Getting old is tough. You are nearing the end. You
:24:01. > :24:08.are no longer the centre of things. The fulfilment of young family and
:24:08. > :24:18.careers are gone. Some of us, like the people I have met in this film,
:24:18. > :24:19.
:24:19. > :24:25.may seek solace in drink only to find we can't do without it. It may
:24:25. > :24:31.not seem like it, but today alcohol is almost 50% more affordable than
:24:31. > :24:38.it was 30 years ago. Even on a pension, it's moved from being a
:24:38. > :24:44.luxury to an everyday item. And nowhere in the UK is cheap booze
:24:44. > :24:48.seen as a bigger problem than in Scotland. Next April, it plans to
:24:48. > :24:55.become the first country in the European Union to introduce a
:24:55. > :25:00.minimum price of 50 pence per unit of alcohol. The cost of the
:25:00. > :25:03.cheapest bottle of vodka in Scottish shops is to go up from �9
:25:03. > :25:07.to �13. Research commissioned by the Scottish Government shows that
:25:07. > :25:13.such a price rise targets those with a taste for cheap and super-
:25:13. > :25:22.strength booze and will have a major impact on the over 65s. That
:25:22. > :25:26.is partly because pensioners are often on a limited income. Very
:25:26. > :25:30.cheap cider, very cheap, strong lagers, these are the alcohol
:25:30. > :25:34.products that will increase in price most. I believe that will
:25:34. > :25:38.have a significant impact on our overall consumption levels. If you
:25:38. > :25:44.are a responsible drinker, you are not going to see very much impact
:25:44. > :25:54.at all from minimum pricing. Minimum pricing is being challenged
:25:54. > :25:57.
:25:57. > :26:01.by the Scottish Whisky I -- Scottish Whisky Association. If it
:26:01. > :26:06.comes in, there will be 300 alcohol-related deaths in Scotland
:26:06. > :26:10.and 6,500 fewer hospital admissions. There are too many people in the
:26:10. > :26:13.over 65 age group who drink more than the recommended weekly limits.
:26:14. > :26:21.The fact of the matter is, as a society, we are drinking too much
:26:21. > :26:25.and we need to get that back into some kind of balance. We asked the
:26:25. > :26:28.statisticians to do some number crunching for Panorama. They
:26:28. > :26:33.estimated that if England were to follow Scotland's lead with 50
:26:33. > :26:42.pence a unit, then, over the next decade, there could be almost
:26:42. > :26:50.50,000 fewer alcohol-related deaths among the over 65s. And now for the
:26:50. > :26:57.moment of truth. How did I do with my drinking diary? In July I drank
:26:57. > :27:00.52 glasses of wine. That comes to 76 units, 20 more than the
:27:01. > :27:04.Government guidelines. I'm really surprised I drunk so much. It is
:27:04. > :27:09.clear I'm a regular and consistent drinker and I'm not inclined to
:27:09. > :27:19.change my ways. However, having made this programme, I can see
:27:19. > :27:21.
:27:21. > :27:28.there is a case for taking a short # Sweet, sweet,
:27:28. > :27:34.# The memories you gave for me. # It's been a long and enjoyable day
:27:34. > :27:38.at the seaside, but it's not over yet. They have come home to
:27:38. > :27:46.Manchester where they are set to enjoy a good sing-song and
:27:46. > :27:51.inevitably a few more drinks. plan for this evening is sitting
:27:52. > :28:01.and enjoy the artist, play bingo and lots more drink, hopefully! Get
:28:02. > :28:03.
:28:03. > :28:06.them tills rolling! Put your hands together, come on!
:28:06. > :28:11.Experts say older people who give up damaging levels of drinking can
:28:11. > :28:15.expect to add years to their lives. There is no doubt social drinking
:28:16. > :28:25.can be one of life's pleasures as we grow older. As I have learnt
:28:26. > :28:28.
:28:28. > :28:35.from some of those I have met, old Tomorrow at 9.00pm, trouble on the
:28:36. > :28:39.estate. Causing trouble. With families, police and undercover
:28:39. > :28:43.cameras, Panorama reveals what it is like to live on one of Britain's