Taranaki health bosses and community leaders have joined the chorus of condemnation for Crate Day after it caused chaos for police and medical staff in the region.

Crate Day, promoted by The Rock FM, involves drinking a "swappa crate" – 12 large (745-millilitre) bottles of beer – to mark the beginning of summer.

Taranaki District Heath Board (TDHB) emergency department nurse manager Sharon Crowe said the event resulted in 23 more patients arriving at hospitals in New Plymouth and Hawera resulting in extra pressure on staff.

FAIRFAX NZ The Rock FM says Crate Day proactively promotes responsible drinking but apparently not all punters are paying attention.

"Patients were treated for various alcohol related injuries and illnesses including stab wounds, cuts, head injuries, vomiting, falls, assaults and broken bones," Crowe said.

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TDHB medical officer of health Jonathan Jarman said the region already had a problem with hazardous drinking with 20.3 per cent of adults having patterns that carry a risk to themselves or others compared to 17.1 per cent nationally.

"It is always sad when something that should be a fun time with your mates turns into people getting hurt," Jarman said.

"Alcohol has the unenviable reputation of being a drug that can hurt other people as well as harming the person who does the drinking."

Alcohol-related injuries presenting to the emergency department at Taranaki Base Hospital cost the DHB more than $345,000 annually.

Jarman said it was a shame the organisers and sponsors of Crate Day didn't have more of a social conscience.

While police Taranaki area commander Inspector Keith Borrell would not comment on the event he said feedback from staff indicated it had been a very busy night around the region.

"We know that we were dealing with a lot more intoxicated people than normal and a lot of the people were grossly intoxicated," Borrell said.

The additional work had put a strain on police resources, he said.

Grant Coward, a member of the New Plymouth district council's alcohol advisory committee and the former head of the CIB, described the event as pathetic.

"When we have all of these issues around alcohol abuse and we are promoting a day where people are encouraged to binge drink, I think we need to grow up a bit and realise it's not a good thing to do," Coward said.

"Anything that is going to promote binge drinking is going to cause harm, there is no question, it's a no brainer."

Coward said alcohol consumption created a lot of dangerous situations.

"I saw it in the police where people were intoxicated to the point where they've had a bit of a scuffle, the next thing they smack someone, they fall down and crack their head and they die. I saw that at least twice.

"It's just unhealthy and it's time we grew up and got away from this sort of nonsense."

Although crates are marketed to be shared, many participants saw the event as a challenge to drink 9 litres on their own.

In 2005/06 the total social cost of harmful alcohol use cost the country $4.437 billion.

More than a third of all crimes, including violence and homicides, are committed by an offender who had been drinking.