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Busy festive period at DGH
NEW Year's Eve ended in a trip to Accident and Emergency for 57 people in Eastbourne, as the DGH was forced to bring in extra staff to cope with the ill and injured.
Patient admissions were up on last year, with nine more people arriving at A&E between 6pm on New Year's Eve and 5.59am on New Year's Day.
Emergency 999 calls were believed to be slightly down but South East Coast Ambulance Service in East Sussex received 105 calls in the space of six hours, from 10pm to 4am, on New Year's Eve, not including those made in Brighton and Hove.
Over Christmas and New Year - from December 23 to January 2 - 12 people were seen in A&E after drinking too much, two of whom were under 18, four aged 18 to 39 and six aged 40 or older.
Just one of these, in the oldest age group, ended up staying in hospital.
A hospital spokesman said A&E coped well and all patients were managed safely but staff were asked to work extra shifts to deal with the demand and cover vacancies left by colleagues off sick.
The festive figures for alcohol-related hospital admissions reflect the findings of a report which shows men in Eastbourne who abuse alcohol are shortening their lives by more than a year.
They are losing 13.8 months from their life expectancy, more than men living in any other town in the South East, according to the Local Alcohol Profiles for England, produced by health watchdog the North West Public Health Observatory.
Women are speeding up their deaths by 8.1 months, double the regional average.
The grim statistics show Eastbourne men suffer the most deaths from alcohol-related illness and the most from chronic liver disease of any town in the South East, more than Brighton and Hove, Portsmouth and Reading.
The number of people in the town commiting violent crimes or causing alcohol-related harm to themselves is also high.
To tackle the problem, NHS East Sussex Downs and Weald will begin a campaign encouraging people to 'Know Your Limits' at the A&E department of the DGH next month.
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Weather for Eastbourne
Thursday 09 February 2012
Today
Sunny spells
Temperature: -1 C to 3 C
Wind Speed: 8 mph
Wind direction: North
Tomorrow
Sunny spells
Temperature: -6 C to 2 C
Wind Speed: 14 mph
Wind direction: East
