PERTH hospitals could start routine alcohol screening of patients coming into emergency departments, after a trial found that more than a quarter of patients drank at risky levels.

The Fiona Stanley Hospital trial quizzed thousands of men and women coming into the emergency short stay-unit, regardless of their illness, about how much they drank.

It found that 27 per cent of patients drank at levels that put them at moderate or high risk of long-term harm. They were referred to their GP for advice, with many surprised to learn they drank at risky levels.

The trial, which included the WA Primary Health Alliance and the National Drug Research Institute, screened almost 8000 patients at FSH and Rockingham Hospital’s acute medical unit.

Patients were asked how often they drank alcohol, how many drinks they had on a typical drinking day, and how often they had six or more drinks on a single occasion.

Those found to drink at risky levels were given brief advice and referred to their GP, while those at high risk were also referred to alcohol specialist nurses at the hospital.

FSH consultant gastroenterologist and hepatologist Simon Hazeldine said he was prompted to do the project after feedback from patients presenting at his clinic with end stage liver disease.

“Often these people were unaware of their risky behaviour in terms of the amount of alcohol they were drinking, because no one had addressed it before,” he said.

“I thought why don’t we pour some resources and energy into the front-end, either through prevention, or by identifying those patients using universal alcohol screening, because it affects all walks of life.

“Then hopefully we could pick up more people before they got to see me in the liver clinic.

“We picked up a lot of people who weren’t presenting with alcohol-related illness, so we were casting the net to people who didn’t think they were drinking at risky levels. Many were very surprised their drinking was risky.”

Dr Hazeldine said the trial was well-received by patients, with a follow-up survey at three months finding that 76 per cent of the group that had GPs had reduced their alcohol consumption, and 44 per cent had reduced their consumption by half.

While they were waiting on data about the impact on admission rates to hospital, having more resources at the front end was likely to save costs later.

He said he believed there was scope for routine alcohol screening at hospitals.

Dr Hazeldine said Australia had a complex relationship with alcohol where seemingly high levels of consumption had been normalised socially.

“It’s a real habitual thing — the person who comes home from work and has six stubbies of beer each night,” he said.

“People can be extremely high functioning, and what I see at my clinic is that they often have been drinking at those levels for so long they don’t know what life is like without alcohol, and how good they can feel when they stop their drinking.

“That’s the biggest message I get back from people who have been successful in abstaining from alcohol, they have so much more energy and can think more clearly.”