Setting up an alcohol treatment centre.

In the emergency unit at University Hospital of Wales (UHW), Cardiff, a rise in the number of patients presenting with alcohol intoxication was reducing the amount of clinical space available to, and affecting the care of, other patients. In response, an alcohol treatment centre (ATC) staffed by emergency nurse practitioners, healthcare assistants and police officers was set up and piloted for three months in the city centre to ensure that people who were severely intoxicated could be managed safely without attending the emergency unit at UHW. This article describes the collaborative approach adopted to launch the three-month pilot project and discusses findings from a review of the ATC conducted when the pilot had ended. These findings indicate that severely intoxicated patients at low or moderate risk had been diverted from the emergency unit to the ATC and that clinical care in the unit, and police and ambulance services, had improved as a result.