Calls To Charge Drunks To Pay For A&E Services

The Chair of the Scotland Patients Association has announced she's going to take ideas to Holyrood to make drunks pay for emergency hospital treatments.

Margaret Watt says people who drink too much often abuse nurses and doctors particularly at the weekends and its time they started paying for the services provided.

She's revealed she'll raise the issue in a meeting with Health Secretary Nicola Sturgeon next month.

She argues: ``This is making a big hole in the budget and we can't afford that, particularly now.

``If those people have to be admitted to hospital every weekend then they should pay. Anyone who has been abusing alcohol and can't stand on their feet and is admitted to hospital at the weekend should pay towards their treatment. Staff are used and abused by these people.

``The services are not there for you to use and abuse. Maybe if we hit them in the pocket it will reduce the numbers who over indulge.