Ha, and just for the heck of it I telephoned the AA advice line and asked whether they had any tips for negotiating the NHS detox system. She listened a bit and then started saying, "Well, you usually go through your GP so I don't know what to tell you! But in any case you ought to refer your husband to AA first of all."
I was like, "Okay, but at the moment I'm trying to help him get into medically supervised detox."
She said, "No, you want to refer him to AA. We take one day at a time and people quit for good after coming through us. You'll have no problems referring him here. You don't need the NHS system at all."
I was like, "Yeah, but at the moment he needs medically supervised detox--"
She said, "See, you don't need NHS at all. One day at a time. Those NHS people just advocate controlled drinking, which is wrong--"
I interrupted her and said, "No, they're working on an abstinence plan, in fact. At the moment I'm trying to help him get into medically supervised detox. I don't understand why you're saying he doesn't need NHS for that. You have your own hospital?"
She said, "See, we go one day at a time."
Readers, I hung up on her.