Chalk and cheese. That's the common response from frontline doctors and nurses at St Vincent's Hospital when asked about life before and after the introduction of Sydney's lock-out laws.

Since the NSW government began to limit alcohol availability in key inner-Sydney areas early last year, the volume and severity of alcohol-related trauma presentations to the hospital has changed dramatically.

On New Year's Eve, St Vincent's emergency staff spoke of lower levels of intoxication and violence in the patients they saw, with not a single person admitted to intensive care. Credit:Damian Shaw

The difference is both stark and very human.

Talk to the on-call neurosurgical registrar who finds himself constantly checking his phone because he hasn't had a single contact on a Saturday night; or the Intensive Care Unit social worker who for months hasn't had to make a devastating call to the parents of a young reveller undergoing surgery to remove glass shards from his face after a severe assault.