Panorama: Old, drunk and disorderly?

Old, Drunk and Disorderly? on Monday 10 September at 7.30pm on BBC One sees reporter and Labour peer Joan Bakewell investigate the hidden problem of alcohol abuse in older people. She asks why the over 65s are far more likely to drink every day, to drink at home and to drink alone.

The deaths of 50,000 British pensioners could be avoided over the next decade by setting a minimum price for alcohol at 50p per unit, according to research commissioned by BBC Panorama.

1.4 million older people are estimated to drink too much and in England last year, there were more admissions to hospital of pensioners for alcohol-related injuries and illnesses than of 16 to 24-year-olds. In the last five years, there has been a 62 per cent increase in alcohol-related admissions for the over 65s.

With the number of people over 65 expected to nearly double by 2050, some experts fear harmful drinking by older people could get worse in the years to come.  Sarah Wadd, Director of the Substance Misuse and Ageing Research Team at the University of Bedfordshire, says:

“We might be on a cusp of an epidemic of people drinking problematically in old age.”

Panorama commissioned research from Sheffield University to find out what would happen if Westminster followed the Scottish government’s aim to become the first EU country to introduce a minimum price for alcohol – at 50p per unit. This would push the price of the cheapest bottle of vodka up from around £9 to £13.

The statisticians estimated that over the course of 10 years, there would be almost 50,000 fewer alcohol-related deaths among the over 65s in England.

Moreover, research carried out on behalf of the Scottish government forecasts that across all age-groups there would be 300 fewer alcohol-related deaths there each year and more than 6,000 fewer hospital admissions. They found that raising the price of alcohol – which is considerably more affordable today than it was 30 years ago - would have the greatest impact on those who drink the cheapest, strongest booze.

Scottish Deputy First Minister Nicola Sturgeon tells Panorama it is these drinkers that the policy is designed to help:

“Very cheap cider, very cheap strong lagers for example, and these are the alcohol products that will get an increase in price most. I believe that will have a significant impact on our overall consumptions levels. If you’re a responsible drinker, you’re not going to see very much impact at all from minimum pricing.”

Roughly a third of older drinkers are thought to first develop their drink problem in later life. Barbara Smith, 73 tells the programme that the death of her husband played a big part in causing her drinking to spiral out of control.

“I was very depressed very sad and very bereft really I suppose… I began to drink when he was ill to try and calm myself and to soothe myself. I just used to drink and drink.”

Barbara is now getting support to help her cut down her drinking – up to a bottle of wine every day, which is around four times the government’s recommended limit.

But she’s not alone in drinking every day.  Experts advise that people refrain from drinking on at least two days a week, yet more over 65s are drinking six or seven days a week than any other age group. 16 per cent of the 65 and overs drink almost every day, compared to 2 per cent of 16-24 year-olds.

Across the UK’s entire population, alcohol misuse is estimated to cost the health service almost £4 billion a year.  And older drinkers play a significant role in this.

Panorama visited Queen Alexandra Hospital in Portsmouth, Hampshire, where the Primary Care Trust has the highest number of hospital admissions of over 65s in England for alcohol-related problems.

The hospital has set up a specialist alcohol team to deal with the high levels of alcohol abuse in the area. An audit of the first 1,000 patients revealed an average weekly consumption of 200 units of alcohol – the highest being 700 units in one week.  Last year over half (57 per cent) the elderly people referred to the service were in the high risk or severe dependency categories.  

Brian Killen, 65 was treated by the team and has now been dry for two years but he used to be regularly in and out of the casualty department.  Some days he was drinking up to two bottles of vodka a day and six to eight cans of super strength lager. He told Panorama:

“Some mornings I woke up… I couldn’t walk… I was actually crawling along the floor just to get to the toilet and then getting on to the toilet. It was a total nightmare…”

Dr Richard Aspinall, Consultant Hepatologist, Queen Alexandra Hospital, Portsmouth says:

“We think of a very visible social disorder, consequences of young people binge drinking on a Saturday night in our town centres but what’s much more hidden is quiet, below the radar drinking at home and it’s very easy for people to drink more than they are actually aware of, to get above the safe limits.”

Changes in later life can be a factor in older people starting to drink heavily.  Former university lecturer Chris Ponder says his early retirement and social isolation were behind his slide into addiction.  He told the programme:

“I thought to myself, I’ve done my bit by family, and I’ve done my bit teaching-wise. I’m just going to slide into retirement and enjoy myself.”

At his worst, he was drinking more than a bottle of vodka day. He says that drink offered the comfort of ‘obliteration’ and that "it was far easier just to drink a couple of slugs of vodka and turn the television on and if it was raining that was a good excuse not to go out."

Chris’s alcoholism got so bad he ended up in a wheelchair. But he has recently completed a 12-week course at the Chy Colum rehabilitation unit in Cornwall, run by the drug and alcohol treatment charity Addaction. He has now been dry for seven months.

The government advises people should not regularly drink more than the recommended daily limit of 2-3 units for women and 3-4 units if you are a man.

Some think that older people should drink even less than that. Sarah Wadd at the University of Bedfordshire, says:

“When somebody ages they have less water in their body. They will actually have more of an effect from that alcohol than if they were younger.”

Drinking too much can have worrying implications for health in later life. According to the Alzheimer’s Society, excessive alcohol consumption over a long period increases the risk of developing a dementia like condition.

Professor Mark Bellis, Director of the Centre for Public Health at Liverpool John Moores University says:

“The reality is that some of the elements of dementia increase with the amount of alcohol that you consume.  And often with things like that, particularly in older people, people can confuse the effects of alcohol on a person, with a simple ageing process.”