What costs the NHS most....

Email an NHS trust to their FOI address and ask for the financial costs of treating those areas for the last financial year. Make it a Foundation trust as they are more likely to have the information to hand.

Argument solved.
 
And the treatment in A&E or frontline is only a very minor part of the treatment. Its the long term treatment or treatment of cancers and other related illnesses and support services provided to people that cost the NHS.
 
All those listed are drugs.

The "nice" drugs, alcohol and tobacco are only "nice" because the government taxes them, and in fact they probably cost the NHS more, then the "naughty" drugs combined.
 
I heard that smoking over a 20 year period will pay for your treatment (assuming you do get ill) 5 times over.

I imagine the same is with alcohol

So probably drugs
 
I'd guess it's between alcohol and ciggs. Not sure on the numbers of cases or cost of treatment so can't really say. I can't think naughty drugs cost that much apart from the rehab which probably aren't directly linked into the nhs?
 
The closest figures that I can find, put alcohol and tobacco equally costing the NHS in the region of £2bil annually, though that data is from '04 and therefore quite out of date..

I would guess now it is a lot more, possibly with alcoholism edging into the lead with the increase in 'binge drinking'
 
Smoking costs somewhere in the region of 5 billion + a year according to the BBC, June '09.

Alcohol, June '08, is at 2.7 billion a year.

Direct Gov said:
New calculations released today put the cost of alcohol misuse to society at £17.7 billion to £25.1 billion per year, with a cost to the NHS of £2.7 billion.
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I would assume that long term conditions cost a LOT more than a night in A&E. In that case, you need to compare the number of people suffering from the long term effects of each drug. With that in mind I'd say it's most likely smoking as I can think of more diseases linked with smoking than alcohol or illegal drugs.

I would be interested to know how obesity compares cost wise to the items in the OP.

EDIT: BBC article that backs up Tummys post
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/health/8086142.stm
I've found a few pages that say illegal drugs cost the country £15billion per year, but I would suspect most of that is crime related rather than health.
 
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easily booze imo

every single weekend theres constant streams of drunks being ambulanced in to emergency rooms everywhere.

even more so when you count fighting/trips/falls/hit by cars as alcohol related... then youve got the liver failures , the brain damaged , the people in intensive care or on long terms stays on wards after accidents.

illegal drug users are a lot more rarer. theyre usually either dead from an OD or too scared to go to hospital. in general they dont fight and im not sure many people do drugs while out in public and have accidents but not too sure on that

IMO everything should either be illegal or everything should be legal and taxed hugely. another idea would be to just stop letting such things be claimed on the NHS
 
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I know a lot of people are sayiing booze but you are only thinking short term. In the long term CANCER will cost more to the NHS than some doosh bag with alcy poisoning
 
Globul said:
I know a lot of people are sayiing booze but you are only thinking short term. In the long term CANCER will cost more to the NHS than some doosh bag with alcy poisoning
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Don't forget there's more to alcohol related illness than just alcoholic poisoning.
Cirrhosis of the liver, cardiovascular problems, psychosis and *gasp* cancer, to name but a few.

I still think the NHS probably spends more on treating smokers though.
 
Globul said:
I know a lot of people are sayiing booze but you are only thinking short term. In the long term CANCER will cost more to the NHS than some doosh bag with alcy poisoning
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aswell as what russors said id bet a huge percent of people who have long term stays and rehabilitation in hospital are caused by alcohol related accidents/fights etc
 
Swordfish said:
Just had a lively debate with the missus and we could not agree which of the following costs the NHS the most to treat.


  • Smoking
  • Alcohol Abuse
  • Drug Abuse

I reckoned on smoking due the fact the we are now treating people, say in the 60's onwards, who, in their early years started smoking, as the dangers were not as well known then. The same could be said for alcohol as well I suppose.

Her answer is, however, drugs but she can't come up with a valid reason why.

Ani ideas, thoughts or linkys with info.

Cheers
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It can't possibly be other drugs, because their use is so rare compared with smoking and alcohol use. I think she's thinking that way because she sees them as being wrong or at least more wrong than the other two.

I'd say smoking as that kills far more people than every other form of drug use added together, including alcohol, and is far more directly harmful to far more people.

It might be difficult to count though, due to grey areas:

There are many health issues caused by smoking, but some of the same health issues can be caused by other things. That makes it impossible to conclusively cite smoking as the cause in every case.

Alcohol can be a factor in violence, accidents and death or injury by misadventure, which costs the NHS a lot. It's not the only factor, though. If someone gets drunk and attacks someone else, it's not just the alcohol. People attack other people when sober. People crash cars when sober. People fall off things while sober. People do all sorts of foolishly dangerous things when sober - it's a normal part of adlescence and young adulthood.
 
Edward01 said:
I heard that smoking over a 20 year period will pay for your treatment (assuming you do get ill) 5 times over.

I imagine the same is with alcohol

So probably drugs
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I'm a non-smoker, so can anybody tell me roughly how much tax is paid on 1 pack (20)? Same goes with alcohol (say 1 bottle of wine).

I'll then post with more details.... want to see how "valid" this may be.
 
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