UK Hospitals admit 500 binge drinkers a day*

By James Kirkup and Caroline Gammell
Last Updated: 12:48am GMT 31/12/2007

An epidemic of binge drinking has fuelled a dramatic increase in the
number of people being hospitalised after drinking to excess, The Daily
Telegraph can disclose.

Hospitals admit 500 binge drinkers a day
Increases in heavy drinking are having disastrous consequences for
Britons' health

The number of alcohol-related hospital admissions has increased by
almost a third in just two years as 24-hour drinking laws and the
greater availability of cheap alcohol lead to increased consumption.

More than 500 people a day are now being admitted to hospitals in
England after drinking too much.

In some parts of the country excess drinking is the cause of almost one
in 20 hospital admissions.

The figures come just two weeks after official statistics showed that
nearly 13 million Britons were drinking too much because they did not
appreciate the increasing strength of alcoholic drinks or the trend for
larger measures.
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The latest figures obtained by The Daily Telegraph are part of official
data recording alcohol-related admissions to NHS hospitals in England.
They show a 31 per cent rise in just two years.

In 2003/04 there were 147,659 admissions to English hospitals where
alcohol was diagnosed as a cause.

In 2004/05 there were 170,130. In 2005/06, the year when 24-hour
drinking laws were introduced, the total reached 193,637 - the
equivalent of 530 admissions every day.

Based on data from the Chartered Institute of Public Finance and
Accountancy, these admissions cost the NHS almost £90,000 a day - or
more than £32 million a year.

Alcohol accounts for 1.5 per cent of all hospital admissions but the
binge-drinking problem is more acute in certain areas.

The Central Liverpool Primary Care Trust recorded alcohol as a cause of
4.7 per cent of all admissions. In total, 3,085 people were treated in
the trust's hospitals last year because they drank too much.

The Department of Health figures were placed in the House of Commons
library during Parliament's Christmas break.

The figures cover only those cases where people suffered health problems
related immediately to their consumption of alcohol. Violence and
accidents related to drunkenness are not included.

Conditions recorded on admissions forms included "mental and behavioural
disorders", "alcoholic liver disease" and the "toxic effect of alcohol".

The admissions figures are further evidence that increases in heavy
drinking are having serious health consequences.

Data obtained by The Daily Telegraph earlier this month showed that
6,517 people died of excessive drinking in England last year - a rise of
almost 20 per cent rise in five years.

Experts say increasing rates of problem drinking are linked both to the
liberal drinking laws Labour introduced in November 2005, allowing clubs
and bars to open 24 hours a day, and the aggressive promotion of cheap
alcohol by supermarkets.

The big chains routinely sell alcohol more cheaply than water and Gordon
Brown has promised action against shops whose promotions encourage
harmful drinking.

Alison Rogers, the chief executive of the British Liver Trust, said:
"The combination of cheap prices, easy accessibility and the rolling
back of barriers to consumption - including the removal of aisle
restrictions in supermarkets, the 24-hour licensing laws and the
licensing of garages - all combine to send the message that drinking
'anytime, anywhere, anyplace' is acceptable and normal.

"The Government needs to be less soft on the alcohol and retail sectors.

"If we continue to adopt a very 'softly softly' approach to the issue of
alcohol it will be at a horrendous health, social and economic cost."

Dr Guy Ratcliffe, the medical director of the Medical Council on
Alcohol, a charity, said easy access to alcohol was having disastrous
consequences for Britons' health.

"There is good evidence that the price of alcohol impacts on
consumption," he said.

"Alcohol is very easily available, particular in off-licences and
supermarkets. The big supermarkets look on alcohol like any other
commodity, and there is a question about whether alcohol should be
treated differently. We are seeing significant liver disease even in the
late teens."

Only last week, figures showed that more than 4,000 children under 14
had been admitted to hospital over the past three years after drinking
too much.

Wine drinkers - and women in particular - are also considered at risk as
the strength of the average bottle has increased from nine per cent in
1978 to 12.5 per cent.

Earlier this year, figures showed that one in four ­couples in some
affluent areas were regularly consuming "hazardous" levels of alcohol.

The Department of Health said that its new "alcohol harm reduction
strategy" should start to redress the harmful effects of excess drinking.

A spokesman said: "This includes a campaign to raise awareness of units
of alcohol, ensuring that sensible drinking messages appear on alcoholic
drinks labels and action to tackle under-age drinking."