| | On a heavy night out, the toxic cocktail of drink, | | | | the clinical experience to deal with that: not just |
| | drugs and dancing can be overwhelming even for the | | | | medically, but in gaining clubbers’ confidence and |
| | most seasoned of nightclubbers. Many who fall ill on | | 35 | | getting them to admit they have taken something.” |
| | the dance floor have nowhere to turn to for fast, | | | | Cream has certainly not been immune from |
5 | | professional help. But a Liverpool nightclub is | | | | trouble: early this year one young woman clubber |
| | pioneering a new approach by introducing the | | | | died after taking an Ecstasy tablet. But drug |
| | country’s first in-house casualty support unit. | | | | difficulties are a small part of the workload, says |
| | | | 40 | | Storr. |
| | | | | “With up to 3,000 people in the building, we get |
| | | | | people turning up with every problem imaginable, |
| | | | | though it usually involves alcohol. For example, in the |
| | | | | autumn we dealt with near-hypothermic girls who |
| | | 45 | | turned up wearing hardly anything. They would not |
| | | | | wear coats out of vanity and got frozen in the queue |
| | | | | outside.” |
| | | | | Dr Luke’s initiative is spreading. Six specially |
| | | | | trained nurses from his unit now work in local clubs in |
| | | 50 | | their own time, paid for by the owners. It is a bold |
| | | | | move for proprietors to make - implicitly admitting |
| | The unit, at the 3,000-capacity superclub Cream, | | | | that drugs feature in their clubs - but, as a recent |
| | is the brainchild of Dr Chris Luke, accident and | | | | survey of young clubbers revealed, 97 per cent said |
10 | | emergency consultant at the Royal Liverpool | | | | they had tried drugs and 90 per cent of them intended |
| | Hospitals Trust, who says the NHS1) should not be | | 55 | | to take some that evening. Clubs can try to keep out |
| | expected to deal with the thousand-plus clubbing | | | | drugs by frisking on the door, but people simply |
| | casualties every year. | | | | swallow them while queuing outside. |
| | While more enlightened clubs around the | | | | Gill Nightingale of Cream says: “Drugs are a |
15 | | country have begun to introduce first-aid staff, Cream | | | | fundamental part of dance culture. It would be a lie for |
| | is the first to employ teams of specialist-trained | | 60 | | anyone in our business to claim they were drug-free - |
| | nurse-practitioners, paramedics and doctors who can | | | | because no one can stop drugs coming into a club. |
| | provide everything from trauma counselling to | | | | Instead we have set up systems to tackle the |
| | reanimation. | | | | problem.” |
20 | | Paramedic Phil Storr, who manages the | | | | Luke, who has been monitoring clubbers’ |
| | nightclub’s casualty services, says: “Cream can | | 65 | | attendance at his hospital for the past five years, |
| | manage any type of medical emergency in the club. | | | | wants to see all clubs introduce highly skilled backup. |
| | The people who come to our medical room for help | | | | “We see 60-70 Ecstasy cases a year, and at least |
| | could be in trouble because of drugs, alcohol, or | | | | one death, but that compares with a good many |
25 | | someone giving them a beating up in the toilets. | | | | deaths related to alcohol. What kills people most in |
| | People taking drugs can turn up feeling ill and | | 70 | | clubs is drink-related violence,” he says. “Around 16 |
| | anxious - freaking out. We acknowledge that and | | | | million people go clubbing every year and that is a |
| | deal with it, rather than pretending drugs don’t | | | | massive industry. The NHS cannot afford this. It |
| | happen. | | | | shouldn’t have to look after all these lifestyle |
30 | | At one end of the drugs spectrum it’s about | | | | illnesses. I want to see every club in Britain having its |
| | counselling - at the other it’s about saving lives, | | 75 | | own casualty service.” |
| | though that is mercifully rare. We have people with | | |