Alcohol related hospital admissions are up 49% in Buckinghamshire since 2013

Figures show a shocking rise in alcohol related hospital admissions | jpimedia

The NHS has this week revealed that in 2018, almost 175,000 people were admitted to hospitals across the South East because of alcohol.

This includes a shocking rise in admissions in our own Buckinghamshire, with a 49% rise since 2012/13 in alcohol related hospital admissions.

Analysis of the statistics by alcohol addiction treatment experts UKAT reveals that the number of people admitted into hospital because of alcohol has risen across the South East by 30% since 2012/13, and is a figure that has continued to rise for the last six years.

In 2018/19, 172,790 people admitted to hospital where the primary reason or a secondary diagnosis was linked to alcohol, 6% more than the previous year (162,410) and 30% more than in 2012/13 (133,970).

Conditions for hospital admission due to alcohol include cardiovascular disease, breast cancer, alcohol poisoning, and alcoholic liver disease.

UKAT’s analysis shows the areas with the highest number of alcohol-related hospital admissions in 2018/19 include Kent (30,150), Hampshire (29,720) and Surrey (22,730).

And over the last six years, their analysis shows huge rises in hospital admissions for Southampton (85%), Isle of Wight (80%) and Buckinghamshire (49%).

The only areas across the South East to have reduced the number of alcohol-related hospital admissions over the last 6 years are Brighton and Hove and East Sussex.

Nuno Albuquerque, Group Treatment Lead at addiction firm UKAT said:

“The problem with alcohol in this country is a ticking time bomb about to explode. NHS Hospitals in particular across the South East are crippling under pressures directly attributable to the misuse of alcohol; a drug that is so socially accepted yet so incredibly dangerous.

“People here are seemingly struggling with their alcohol consumption; drinking so much alcohol that it is leading to hospitalisation and the diagnosis of further, debilitating conditions, yet the Government continues to have their heads buried in the sand.

“The question is, why do we still not have an Alcohol-specific Strategy, as promised back in 2018? It is a huge problem and one that needs immediately addressed as a matter of urgency.”