Weren't we once warned about "Lies, damned lies, and statistics".
Let's go back to the original posting :-
According to a piece on BBC news recently, it costs the National Health Service approximately £200.00 to look after/treat an intoxicated person in A&E.

My questions would be

Who says it costs £200 to treat a drunk?

Why do they claim that is what it costs?

What do they say it costs to treat someone they have not classed as "a drunk"?

Do the figures distinguish between someone who is there for a reason not caused by them being drunk? Perhaps they were a passenger in a car accident? Mugged? Slipped on the same patch of ice as the sober patient on the next seat?

Does it cost the same to treat a drunk with a minor wound which needs disinfecting then holding together with a couple of "butterfly" sticking plasters compared with someone hit by a bus, with serious injuries, broken bones and needing surgery? I think not!

Is the figure for "How Much It Costs" based on Total cost for Staff Wages + Heating/Lighting + Rent being paid to the firm who built the new PFI funded building (and whatever hospital outgoings the accountants might add) then Divided by the number of patients seen in one shift?
If so - it is a spurious calculation. The fixed costs are EXACTLY THE SAME whether there is one patient or 200 in the same time slot. I suspect that if you remove these from any calculation of treatment costs, the cost which is due to the actual individual patient (drunk or sober) is in most cases a tiny fraction of any sum quoted by the accountants.

Quack!
GtD.