By Laura Smith-Spark BBC News Online

Almost all assaults on a weekend are alcohol-related

While many of those partying may wake up with no more than a sore head and an empty wallet, for others the consequences will be far more serious.

At the Royal Sussex County Hospital in Brighton, A&E staff say by Sunday morning the observation ward will be packed with the victims of assault, overdoses and injury - almost all of them alcohol related.

Already by 2200 BST a man attacked while drunk has been hurried into theatre after failed attempts to stop him bleeding from his mashed-up nose.

Fuels fights

"He's lost about half the total volume of blood in his body," said Dr Paul Ransom, accident and emergency consultant for Brighton and Sussex NHS Hospitals Trust.

"Almost every assault is alcohol related, especially during the weekend. Alcohol is a lubricator for all sorts of things.

"To put it crudely, in men it fuels fights and in women it fuels overdoses after a row."

We could get by with a quarter of the staff on the evening shifts if it wasn't for alcohol Dr Paul Ransom

Senior staff nurse Josephine Bagasina confirmed that between 60 and 80% of people kept in one of the observation ward's six beds overnight would be there because they had drunk too much.

"In the morning they will wake up, have a good breakfast, see a counsellor and agree not to drink so much," she said.

The arrivals tend to come in waves, with people admitted after the pubs shut, then again when the clubs kick out at 2am, with a final influx at about 4am when the last venues close.

In the A&E reception area, the mood is muted as people sit in small huddles nursing their injuries or woes.

The working environment for staff has improved hugely, said Dr Ransom, since the rotas were changed to put far more staff on duty at the weekend.

I think the people who should pay for it are the breweries, not the government or social services Dr Paul Ransom

Intoxicated patients who would grow abusive or violent while waiting can now be dealt with swiftly by a "see and treat" nurse if their injuries are minor - or moved more quickly to the A&E ward for appropriate treatment.

Dr Ransom said: "On Thursday, Friday, Saturday nights we could get by with a quarter of the staff on the evening shifts if it wasn't for alcohol."

Outside, the radio of a hospital security guard crackles into life - a man, possibly an alcoholic, has been spotted heading towards the entrance clutching a bottle of sparkling wine.

"We can't let them in with bottles because it can upset the other people waiting," she said, persuading him to hand it over.

By Sunday, these beds will be full of patients who have drunk too much

"It can be as bad on a Wednesday night as a Saturday night," she added. "The staff have to suffer quite a lot of abusive behaviour."

A report last month put the cost of Britain's binge-drinking culture to the NHS in the region of �1.7bn - with 1.2 million incidents of alcohol-related violence a year.

Dr Ransom, who has worked in A&E for seven years, would like to see breweries paying for some of the high cost of caring for the casualties.

'Huge problem'

"Alcohol is a huge problem and we get so used to dealing with it and having to deal with the effects of it both acutely and chronically," he said.

"I would like to see money available to fund an alcohol worker in our A&E who could screen patients and then have intervention as and when it is needed.

"I think the people who should pay for it are the breweries, not the government or social services.

"I'm not against drinking but we need adequate resources to patch up when it all goes wrong so frequently."

Road accidents the next morning are another regular result of heavy drinking, Dr Ransom adds, having spent an afternoon patching up the casualties of a crash which left their car a crumpled heap of metal.

"These young lads from this morning, still drunk from the night before, managed to walk out with minor scratches but could have been in the morgue," he said.