"Failure to abstain from alcohol"

In July last year I was admitted to Sunderland Royal Hospital with alcohol withdrawal symptoms after losing my long term partner of seventeen years. I was told by two different consultants that I had caused so much damage to my health that I will die if I drink again. I was discharged after two weeks. I live alone in a flat now and have no friends whatsoever, therefore I have very little contact with the outside world.

The hospital did a great job of taking care of me. I felt the support I received after discharge was however absolutely nil. Now I am drinking again and I feel my doctor doesn't seem to care one way or the other. I think in all probability I will end up in hospital again or even dead. It seems to me that there is no system whatsoever to help people who are in my situation to go on to live a normal life. We are in fact admitted, treated for our immediate medical problems and turfed out of hospital and left to our own devices. I think this results in failure to abstain from alcohol in my case. It is rather like being on a merry-go-round and not being able to get off. Whatever happened to after care? I feel as if the system as it stands only caters for the patients' immediate needs. I feel let down by this.