Hostname: page-component-586b7cd67f-r5fsc Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-22T07:14:11.009Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

Certificated Incapacity and Unemployment in Alcoholics

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  29 January 2018

E. S. M. Saad
Affiliation:
Bridgewater Hospital, Eccles, Manchester, M30 0RL; Moston Hospital, Chester
J. S. Madden
Affiliation:
Addiction Unit, Moston Hospital, Chester, CH1 3ST

Summary

Seventy-three male alcoholics permitted information to be obtained from official sources about time recorded as lost from work in receipt of sickness or unemployment benefits and about their weekly state insurance contributions. The average yearly time loss was 121.7 working days per person, comprising an average yearly loss through sickness of 86.1 and through unemployment of 35.6 working days respectively. By contrast the recorded national sickness loss for men in a comparable twelve months period averaged 15.9 working days per person.

Thirteen alcoholics showed over five years, prolonged deficiency in work attendance. State benefits to the subjects, over twelve months during the early 1970s, totalled £18,434.80. Diagnoses on their medical certificates underestimated incapacity from alcoholism.

Type
Research Article
Copyright
Copyright © Royal College of Psychiatrists, 1976 

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Bjerver, K. (1972) An evaluation of compulsive treatment for alcoholic patients in Stockholm. Opuscula Medica, Suppl. 25. Stockholm: Södersjukhuset.Google Scholar
Dreher, K. F. & Fraser, J. G. (1967) Smoking habits of alcoholic out-patients. I. International Journal of Addictions, 2, 259—70.Google Scholar
Dreher, K. F. & Fraser, J. G. (1968) Smoking habits of alcoholic out-patients. II. International Journal of Addictions, 3, 6580.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Edwards, G., Fisher, M. K., Hawker, A. & Hensman, C. (1967) Clients of alcoholism information centres. British Medical Journal, 4, 346—9.Google Scholar
Glass, N. J. (1973) Cost-benefit analysis and health services. Health Trends, 5, 51—6.Google Scholar
Glatt, M. M. & Hills, D. R. (1965) Occupational behaviour patterns in samples of English alcoholic employees. British Journal of Addiction, 61, 71—8.Google Scholar
Glatt, M. M. (1972) The Alcoholic and the Help He Needs (second edition). London: Priory Press.Google Scholar
Holtmann, A. G. (1964) Estimating the demand for public health services: the alcoholism case. Public Finance, 19, 351—60.Google Scholar
Kearns, J. L. (1973) Stress in Industry. London: Priory Press.Google Scholar
Madden, J. S. (1973) Motivation to cease drinking. In Notes on Alcohol and Alcoholism (ed. Caruana, M.). London: B. Edsall.Google Scholar
Offie of Health Economics (1973) Sickness absence. Information Shut No. 23. London: Office of Health Economics.Google Scholar
Office of Population Censuses and Surveys (1973) The General Household Survey. Introductory Report. London: H.M.S.O.Google Scholar
Pell, S. & D'Alonzo, C. A. (1970) Sickness absenteeism of alcoholics. Journal of Occupational Medicine, 12, 198210.Google Scholar
Schilling, R. S. F. (1973) Occupational Health Practice (ed. Schilling, R. S. F.). London: Butterworths.Google Scholar
Schmidt, W. & De Lint, J. (1973) Causes of death in alcoholics. Quarterly Journal of Studies on Alcohol, 33, 171—85.Google Scholar
Straus, R. & Bacon, S. D. (1951) Alcoholism and social stability: a study of occupational integration in 2,023 male clinic patients. Quarterly Journal of Studies on Alcohol, 12, 231—60.Google Scholar
Sundby, P. (1973) Prevalence of alcoholism and the size of the socio-medical problems associated with it. In Alcoholism: a Medical Profile. Proceedings of the First International Medical Conference on Alcoholism (eds. Kessel, N., Hawker, A. and Chalke, H.). London: B. Edsall.Google Scholar
Taylor, P. (1974) Sickness absence: facts and misconceptions. Journal of the Royal College of Physicians of London, 8, 315—33.Google ScholarPubMed
Trice, H. M. (1967) New light on identifying the alcoholic employee. Medical Bulletin on Alcoholism, 2, 815.Google Scholar
Submit a response

eLetters

No eLetters have been published for this article.