New Alcohol Profi les show alcohol-related disease is still increasing in England -
North West a blackspot

The latest Local Alcohol Profi les for England (LAPE) show there were around 800,000 alcohol-related admissions to hospital in England in 2006/07, a 9% increase from the previous year or an additional 174 alcohol-related admissions every day. The 800,000 admissions were accounted for by 530,000 individuals, as some people had more than one stay in hospital during the year.

The figures were compiled by the North West Public Health Observatory at the Centre for Public Health. The profiles contain 23 measures of the burden that alcohol has on local communities. They include the Government’s national indicator – hospital admissions for alcohol related harm (NI 39) – as well as other measures such as alcohol-related deaths, crime and incapacity benefit claimants.

Dr Karen Tocque, Director of Science and Strategy for the North West Public Health Observatory and lead for the development of the alcohol profiles, said “For the first time, local communities can see the effect that alcohol has been having over a four or five year period and these trends may come as a bit of a surprise. No area of England can escape the fact that alcohol is having some negative influence on their residents. Each year, people living in each community become a victim of a crime, are unable to work, are admitted to hospital or may even die – all because of alcohol.”

Professor Mark Bellis, Director of the North West Public Health Observatory added:

“Rises in alcohol-related health problems reflect not only weekend binge drinking but also how use of alcohol on a nightly basis continues to erode our health. Further increases in alcohol problems are in store if we continue to focus on the symptoms of alcohol misuse, like night life violence and ill health, but ignore the causes such as cheap alcohol and a lack of recognition that alcohol is a dangerous drug.”

The alcohol profiles can be accessed on the web at
www.nwph.net/alcohol/lape

Key findings from the profiles:

• New figures for the National Alcohol Indicator (NI 39) – hospital admissions for alcohol related harm

• Numbers of people being admitted to hospital each year continue to climb – up 7% or 34,000 more people admitted since 2005/06

• On a national basis, deaths from chronic liver disease increased in the last year by 7% for women and 5% for men
• Claims for Incapacity Benefit and Severe Disablement Allowance due to alcoholism remain static at around 41,000 (for November 2007) whilst transport accident deaths attributable to alcohol have decreased by 10% since 2003 to 2,900 in 2007

• While there are variations in trends between Local Authority areas, 63% showed an increase in hospital admissions in the last year, 31% had less than 5% change and only 6% showed a decrease

• In general, those areas of the country high for one measure of alcohol problem are high for others and therefore, a single measure of harm was created to compare areas. This measure includes alcohol-related ill health, death, crime and poor drinking behaviours. With the exception of Middlesbrough, Hammersmith and Fulham, and Kingston upon Hull, seven of the ten areas in England with the greatest level of alcohol related harms are in the North West region: Manchester, Salford, Liverpool, Rochdale, Halton, Tameside and Oldham

• The local areas least affected by alcohol are mostly in the South East or Eastern regions of the country: Wokingham, Mid Bedfordshire, Three Rivers, Castle Point, North Kesteven, South Northamptonshire, Sevenoaks, East Dorset, Broadland and South Norfolk

• Children and young people (under 18 years of age) being admitted to hospital because of alcohol have risen nationally by around 5% a year since 2003/04 to nearly 8,000 in 2006/07. However, the areas with the highest rates are not the same places where adult admissions are highest but, instead, are often more rural and isolated areas and include: Copeland, Isle of Wight, Darlington, Redditch, Rossendale, Wirral, Halton, Sunderland, Kingston upon Hull and Wear Valley.