A TOP Hereford consultant, seen this week on a drinks binge in a major television documentary highlighting alcohol misuse in the medical profession, is calling for breath tests in hospitals.

Millions of TV viewers saw Dr John Ballance perform an 'operation' after drinking five pints of beer and several large whiskies.

However, Dr Ballance will not be left high and dry by the British Medical Association because his drunken display was part of a BBC television experiment.

The semi-retired consultant anaesthetist removed an appendix on Real Story just hours after hitting the booze to highlight the problem of alcoholism in the medical profession.

Programme makers wanted to show the dangers of working with a hangover after a survey showed one in 15 doctors is abusing alcohol and/or other drugs.

The 62-year-old from Woolhope said he hoped his under-par operation on a £70,000 dummy would help bring about changes in the rules on drinking before duty.

"Airline pilots are not allowed to drink eight hours before flying and I was speaking to a girl selling coffee on the train who told me she was not allowed any alcohol before work in case there was an accident and people needed her help," he said.

"I think doctors should follow similar rules and I would support breath tests in hospitals - the only ones who would fear the tests are the ones with a problem."

As part of the experiment Dr Ballance went out drinking in Liverpool until 1am before being woken eight hours later to remove an appendix from a simulated asthmatic boy.

He said it was the type of operation he had performed hundreds of times before in the past 30 years, but things did not exactly go smoothly owing to his delicate head.

"I was not what you may call chirpy when I woke up and, in real life, would never have performed an operation in that state," he said.

"They made it difficult for me and the dummy's lung collapsed. In the end I did manage to complete the operation, but when something went wrong I was just that little bit too slow to react."

Dr Ballance, who began his career in medicine working 108-hour weeks, said he had come across drunken colleagues - but never in Hereford.

He said: "While I was an army doctor there was a man with a drink problem. But I have been based in Hereford since 1981 and have never seen any problems here.

"The culture may have been a bit different 20 years ago when we had sherry on the ward at Christmas, but I have always believed that when you are handling real people your reactions have to be spot on - to not do so is demeaning to the public and your profession."