To be honest, no-one actually knows what the level of alcohol related admissions to A&E is. It is all based on the coding of the notes that we make. After seeing every patient the docs have to do some sort of coding to say what was wrong with the patient and what treatment they received (it’s how the department gets paid). If the doc puts that the attendance was related to alcohol then this goes down as an alcohol related attendance.
However, doctors are notoriously bad at coding (they either can’t be arsed or forget or are too busy) and thus the number of alcohol related attendances is probably underestimated.
However, we are a bout to start another alcohol related study at my department (bit of a theme here). We are planning to breathalise every patient that comes through the door at random times of the day and night. We should therefore be able to get a true reflection of the number of alcohol related attendances. (Although what you class as related to the alcohol consumed and what is people who would have turned up anyway but just happen to have had a couple of rinks is an entire other argument.)