Alcohol related illness at all time high

Alcohol-related illness has reached record levels, a round-up of statistics issued by the government Information Centre for Health and Social Care shows.

In-patient care for people with mental health or behavioural disorders resulting from alcohol misuse, has increased by 75 per cent from 1995 to 2005, from 72,500 admissions to126,300.

Numbers admitted to hospital with liver disease due to alcohol have more than doubled over the past 10 years. Deaths linked to alcoholic liver disease have also risen by 37 per cent between 1999 and 2004.

Denise Lievesley, chief executive at the Information Centre for Health and Social Care, said the statistics should help professionals to “raise awareness of the dangers of alcohol misuse”.