THE North-East has become the first region in the country to log details of victims of alcohol- related crime attending hospital accident and emergency (A&E) departments.

A year after the initiative was launched, nearly every hospital in the area is now collecting details of where victims were injured.

It is expected to have a dramatic effect on cutting alcohol related-crime by allowing police to be in the right place at the right time.

It has already led to a 60 per cent fall in alcohol-related injuries in licensed premises in Cardiff – where the system was pioneered and is known as the Cardiff model – and a 40 per cent decline of victims of violence attending hospital.

Its success had a big impact on North-East NHS bosses, after the facial surgeon who developed the scheme – Professor Jonathan Shepherd, of Cardiff University – explained how it worked at a conference on tackling alcohol abuse in the North-East in March 2008.

Following the setting up of Balance, the North-East alcohol office, in February 2009, it was decided to introduce the Cardiff model at every A&E unit in the region.

Sue Taylor, the Balance official who chairs the regional Cardiff Model steering group, said: “The picture is very positive and it is already giving the police a much clearer picture of what is happening.

“Six months down the line, we should be able to see if there really is a reduction in violence.”

Acting Superintendent Alison Jackson, from Durham and Darlington Constabulary, said: “Everything is now in place and the information the A&E staff can give us is potentially massive.

She said that the initiative was still in its early days and that the system of data collection still needs to be improved.

However, she confirmed that operational use is already being made of the statistics.

“It recently helped us in relation to an incident in the Consett area, which involved a problem with licensed premises.

“There are benefits for the police and for the A&E staff. It allows us to target our resources more effectively and should reduce the demand on casualty departments.”