Alcohol-related hospital admissions rise in England

Almost 1.2 million hospital admissions may have been linked to alcohol last year, new figures show.

Admission rates in England due to conditions which could have been caused by alcohol have increased every year since 2008.

They rose again from 2,185 per 100,000 in 2016/17 to 2,224 in 2017/18, according to the data from NHS Digital.

A total of 1.17 million hospital admissions in England last year involved an alcohol-related condition which was either the main reason for admission, or one of the secondary diagnoses.

This represents 7.2% of the overall number of hospital admissions and was 3% higher than 2016/17, NHS Digital said.

The South East had the lowest rate of admissions under this definition at 1,827 per 100,000, while the North East had the highest at 2,736.

Salford was the local authority with the highest rate in 2017/18, at 3,430 per 100,000.

Meanwhile, almost 338,000 admissions had an alcohol-related condition as the primary reason.

The number is similar to 2016/17, but 15% higher than a decade ago.

“Alcohol in England is without a doubt at crisis point and worse still, we start another year with no dedicated strategy from Government for tackling alcoholism in this country,” Eytan Alexander, chief executive of addiction treatment specialists UKAT, said.

“The numbers speak for themselves, and it’s time to admit that change is needed in order to help the NHS and to help those most vulnerable in society.”

The number of deaths known to be a consequence of alcohol misuse has also risen, according to figures published in December.

There were around 5,800 alcohol-specific deaths in England in 2017, which was 6% higher than 2016 and up 16% from 2007.