A LEADING doctor has apologised to the people of Bolton for the confusion surrounding alcohol units.

Dr Stephen Liversedge, who is fronting The Bolton News’ Think Before You Drink campaign, has believes people’s failure to understand alcohol units is down to the way it has been explained by doctors.

He said: “It has been a mistake by us, the doctors, because we use technical language and think everybody understands it.

“People feel embarrassed to hold their hands up and say we don’t understand.

“It’s amazing how many people still don’t understand what a unit of alcohol is. This is true of many NHS staff.

“We know at The Royal Bolton Hospital, where a lot of nursing staff have been asked to question patients on their drinking habits, they have admitted they don’t completely understand.

“A nurse was asked how many unit of alcohol they drink. The nurse said ‘I don’t know what a unit is, but I tend to have two or three drinks at a time and I would say that would be two or three units’.”

Dr Liversedge said the units message needs to be more explicit to enable people to realise when they are health at risk.

One unit is measured as 10ml or 8g of pure alcohol. The measure is the equivalent of one single 25ml measure of whisky or a third of a pint of beer when the alcohol by volume level is between five and six, or half of a standard glass of red wine, which has an alcohol by volume level of 12 per cent.

The government advises men to not regularly drink more than three to four units of alcohol per day, the equivalent to a pint and a half of beer, and women to drink no more than between two or three units daily, the equivalent of a 175ml glass of wine.

Dr Liversedge, who works at Egerton and Dunscar Health Centre in Bromley Cross, said: “We come across about one in eight people who actually realise they are drinking more than recommended amounts and they change their behaviour.”

Readers can find out more about the number of units they are allowed each week by visiting drinkaware.co.uk.