Hospital alcohol admissions rise steeply
Alcohol-related hospital admissions in England have risen by more than 50 percent in the past 12 years according to an NHS report.
The number of people admitted to NHS hospitals due to alcohol consumption in 1995/6 more than doubled from 93,500 to 207,800 in the latest available figures from 2006/7.
GPs also reported a 20 per cent rise in prescriptions for drugs to treat alcohol dependency between 2003 and 2007, the report shows.
Tim Straughan, chief executive of the NHS Information Centre, said: This report shows alcohol is placing an increasing burden right across the NHS – from the GP surgery to the hospital bed. These rises paint a worrying picture about the relationship between the population and the bottle.
The report also details the wider effects of excessive alcohol consumption including a rise in diagnosis of alcoholic liver disease, which doubled over 12 years. Increasing numbers of drinkers are dying from alcohol: 6,500 in 2006, which signaled a 19 per cent rise from fatalities in 2001. Young people are also more likely to be hospitalized by alcohol-related symptoms, the NHS statistics show.
Ten per cent of those admitted to hospitals around England were under 18 years of age. When surveyed as part of the research, nearly half of 11-15 year-olds admitted to having drunk around 11 units of alcohol a week.
Original article: www.bbc.co.uk
Date - Thursday 22 May 2008