The detection of people abusing alcohol was not being prioritised in hospitals and a recent study showed almost one in five patients had serious drink misuse, a conference was told yesterday.
Dr John Sheehan, consultant psychiatrist at the Mater Hospital, whose study prompted the conference in Dublin, urged the development of guidelines which would help hospital staff detect whether a patient was misusing alcohol.
Dr Sheehan said patients frequently had no idea that the reason they were in hospital was because of alcohol consumption.
"What we've seen in our own study is that the actual recording is significantly deficient," he said.
The conference, called "The Burden of Alcohol Misuse in the General Hospital," was opened by the Minister for Health, Mr Martin, who said there could be no doubt that the level of alcohol consumption in Ireland had reached a chronic level.
He said alcohol disorders continued to be a main cause of admissions to psychiatric hospitals. Many incidents of drowning, falls and burns were also linked to alcohol.
People who drank heavily on a regular basis could also suffer from acute alcohol-related harm.
Illness such as cirrhosis of the liver, cancer of the mouth, pharynx, larynx, oesophagus and liver had all been linked to long-term alcohol use.
"While it would be comforting to think that patients who misuse alcohol are being detected by their attending physicians, the truth as shown by Dr Sheehan's research is that all too often people with alcohol-related disabilities are not being detected," the Minister said.
The Minister said he was sure results of the research would go on to influence future clinical policies.
Improvements in detection and treatment were critical but preventing the problem before it arose was always preferable.