Proposal to charge irresponsible drinkers for 999 call-outs

Irresponsible drinkers who require ambulances should be charged for the call-outs, says one AM.

Suzy Davies, assembly member for south Wales west, put forward the idea as she launched her bid to become the next leader of the Welsh Conservatives.

Exactly how the plan would work in reality is unclear.

Davies was asked by ITV Wales how the plan would work, how much would be charged and when payment would be taken. She said that the details needed to be worked through.

While members of the public who spoke to ITV Wales appeared to support the idea in principle, the Welsh Government responded to the idea by saying it cut across the principles on which the NHS was founded.

It said "any suggestion that could lead to people being priced out of the urgent medical attention they need is callous [and] short-sighted."

The Welsh Ambulance Service said that it's primary focus is on frequent callers and that the "Welsh Ambulance provides a service that is free ‘at point of need’ to all patients, based entirely on their medical emergency, and not the cause of it.

“Evidence from other NHS experiences suggests that any charge-back initiative would be extremely challenging to administer, while defining ‘irresponsible’ behaviour that may result in a person facing an unexpected medical emergency is problematic."