So here's an update:
He woke this morning with big swollen elephant legs. He says they don't hurt.
We went as recommended to the health centre this morning and he got liver function test. Of course they were like, "So why does he need to see the GP?" I showed them the email print-out from the alcohol counsellor which mentioned that a liver function test plus GP health review was necessary before admission to detox. So they were like, "Um, okay, we'll make an appointment with GP for 11:00 but still not sure what you need..."
So we'll go back there in an hour. In the meantime AH is asking, "So can I go into detox today?" He's desperate to stop drinking but because of his health problems (heart disease), he's been told not to stop on his own.
We don't have a number for his alcohol counsellor. I called the main office for the Alcohol Team for our borough--it's closed today for staff training. I sent counsellor an email and asked him to telephone me.
I looked around on NHS website and on a document I found the mobile number for the head of substance abuse services! I called her and explained that I'd found her number online and was just calling to find out what to do. She said she was driving but very kindly pulled over and spoke to me, or rather listened as I explained where we were up to. I basically said, "So he's asking to go into detox, we're trying to make that happen and hitting these roadblocks--not sure what to do now."
She seemed sort of surprised and asked who his counsellor is. She said she'd look into it and give a call back.
So in a little while I'm going back to the health centre to see the GP, I have printed out the emails from counsellor and also the contact information for the detox team.
AH is in this state where he's barely sentinent and is just repeating, "Please help me out of this." I'm literally leading him into the health centre, up the stairs to the blood test centre, back home, etc.
This is absolutely impossible. One thing that's come of this: if at the end of all this AH goes back to "Yeah, no, it's okay if I have a little beer at a party, don't be so judgemental" then I'm literally just going to block his phone and let him die alone.