Alcohol-related hospital admissions drop

While the number of people being admitted to hospital in England due to alcohol has fallen, treating alcohol-related illnesses is still costing the NHS £2.8 billion a year.

Research by drinks charity Alcohol Concern shows that 9.6 million people were admitted to NHS hospitals in 2012/13, falling from 10 million in 2010/11.

The research is contained within a map of alcohol-related harm which maps the worst and least affected areas and the cost of alcohol-related illnesses.

It shows that 9.6 million people in England are now drinking in excess of Government guidelines, with 2.4 million of those people classed as being “high-risk”, meaning they consume more than six to eight units a day.

While alcohol-related admissions have dropped, those drinking alcohol to excess are still costing the NHS a total of £2.8 billion every year.

For 2012/13, the cost of inpatient admissions “partly attributable” to alcohol stood at £1.3bn, almost three times greater than the cost of those which were wholly attributable, which was £518m.

There was a £708m cost to the NHS for hypertensive disease inpatient admissions attributable to alcohol consumption alone, with alcohol blamed for almost half of all head and neck cancer inpatient admissions at a cost to the NHS of £65.3m.

Furthermore, just over 13% of all malignant tumours found in breast inpatient admissions were attributable to alcohol at a cost to the NHS of £27.1m.

Jackie Ballard, Alcohol Concern chief executive said: “The NHS is now facing an intolerable strain from alcohol-related illnesses. This is not just from readily-identifiable causes such as A&E visits and admissions for liver disease, but from a significant number of other conditions in which alcohol plays a major, but often under appreciated part.”

“We need to ensure adequate alcohol care pathways are prioritised and appropriate services are put in place to ease this burden. However, we also urgently need action to prevent alcohol misuse; the first and most effective of which is for the government to implement a minimum unit price, which has the potential to save the economy millions, and most importantly save lives.”

Earlier this year research carried out by the University of Sheffield and published in the British Medical Journal supported calls to introduce a minimum price of 45p per unit on alcohol, which it said would prevent 500 alcohol related admissions a year.

Such a measure would however increase the price of 23.2% of units sold, compared to the current figure of 0.7% due to the current ban on selling alcohol at below cost price.

A minimum alcohol unit price was considered in 2012 but rejected in 2013 on the basis that there was not enough evidence that it would be effective in reducing harm.

The Department for Health is currently looking to remove one billion units of alcohol from the UK drinks market by 2015, a drive supported by Heineken, Molson Coors, the British Beer and Pub Association, ABInBev UK, Diageo, Marks and Spencer and Bacardi, among others.