Alcohol-related hospital admissions top 1 million, new report shows

The number of admissions to hospital in England related to alcohol has topped 1 million, according to the NHS Information Centre’s annual report, Statistics on Alcohol: England 2011.

Statistics show there were 1,057,000 such admissions in 2009/10. This is up 12% on the 2008/09 figure (945,500) and more than twice as many as in 2002/03 (510,800).

Of these admissions, nearly two thirds (63%) were for men. Among all adults there were more admissions in the older age groups than in the younger age groups.

New prescriptions data shows that alcohol dependency cost the NHS £2.41million in prescription items in 2010. This is up 1.4% on the 2009 figure (£2.38 million) and up 40% since 2003 (£1.72 million).

There were 160,181 prescription items prescribed for drugs to treat alcohol dependency in primary care settings or NHS hospitals and dispensed in the community in 2010. This is an increase of 6% on 2009 (150,445) and an increase of 56% since 2003 (102,741).

The report also shows that in 2010 in England:

There were 290 prescription items issued for alcohol dependency per 100,000 of the population

Regionally, the figures for prescription items per 100,000 of the population were highest in the North West (515 items) and North East (410 items) and lowest in London (130 items)

The NHS Information Centre Chief Executive, Tim Straughan, said: “Today’s report shows the number of admissions to hospital each year for alcohol-related problems has topped 1 million for the first time. The report also highlights the increasing cost of alcohol dependency to the NHS as the number of prescription items dispensed continues to rise.

“This report provides health professionals and policy makers with a useful picture of the health issues relating to alcohol use and misuse. It also highlights the importance of policy makers and health professionals in recognising and tackling alcohol misuse, which, in turn, could lead to Alcohol affordability index: 1980 (=100%) to 2010 savings for the NHS.” Responding to the publication of the report, Public Health Minister, Anne Milton, said:

“These statistics show that the old ways of tackling public health problems have not always yielded the necessary improvements. We are already taking action to tackle problem drinking, including plans to stop supermarkets selling below-cost alcohol and working to introduce a tougher licensing regime.

“We are taking a bold new approach to public health. Our recent white paper set out our plan to ring-fence public health spending and give power to local communities to improve the health of local people. We will also be publishing a new alcohol strategy later this year to follow on from the Public Health White Paper.”

However, some commentators noted the strangeness of alcohol-related hospital admissions appearing to increase sharply at a time when alcohol consumption is falling. According to the data presented in the report, the proportion of men drinking more than 21 units a week fell by two percentage points, from 28 to 26%, and the number of women drinking more than 14 units by one percentage point, from 19 to 18%, between 2008 and 2009. The commentators suggested that, in reality, the apparent increase in admissions is probably due to the change in the method of counting alcohol-related hospital admissions that took place in 2009.

Alcohol Affordability

It is now generally accepted that alcohol affordability - how cheap or expensive alcohol is relative to disposable income - is one of the main factors explaining fluctuations in the level of alcohol consumption.

As a result of representations by the Institute of Alcohol Studies, National Statistics has now altered its method of calculating alcohol affordability. Previously, the affordability index was calculated partly on the basis of changes in the total disposable income of all households. Dr Rachel Seabrook of IAS pointed out that this was an unsatisfactory measure because changes in total household income reflected, in part, changes in the size of the population, and the measure was not, therefore, an accurate method of calculating the disposable income of individual consumers.

The new measure of alcohol affordability adjusts for this failing and thus provides a more accurate picture of the relationship between affordability and consumption. As can be seen from the graph (below), the old measure had the effect of exaggerating how affordable alcohol has become in recent years. However, even with the new, more accurate measure, alcohol in 2010 was still 44% cheaper than it was in 1980, highlighting the overall trend of increased affordability over the period.

Alcohol affordability index: 1980 (=100%) to 2010

Key Findings

In England, in 2009:

• 69% of men and 55% of women (aged 16 and over) reported drinking an alcoholic drink on at least one day in the week prior to interview. 10% of men and 6% of women reported drinking on every day in the previous week.

• 37% of men drank over 4 units on at least one day in the week prior to interview and 29% of women drank more than 3 units on at least one day in the week prior to interview. 20% of men reported drinking over 8 units and 13% of women reported drinking over 6 units on at least one day in the week prior to interview.

• The average weekly alcohol consumption was 16.4 units for men and 8.0 units for women.

• 26% of men reported drinking more than 21 units in an average week. For women, 18% reported drinking more than 14 units in an average week.

• In 2007, 33% of men and 16% of women (24% of adults) were classified as hazardous drinkers

• Among adults aged 16 to 74, 9% of men and 4% of women showed some signs of alcohol dependence

• 18% of secondary school pupils aged 11 to 15 reported drinking alcohol in the week prior to interview, compared with 26% in 2001

• Around half of pupils had ever had an alcoholic drink (51%), compared with 61% in 2003

• The overall volume of alcoholic drinks purchased for consumption outside the home has decreased by 39% from 733 millilitres (ml) of alcohol per person per week in 2001/02 to 446 ml per person per week in 2009. This reduction is mainly due to a 45% decrease in the volume of beer purchases from 623 ml to 342 ml per person per week over the same period.

• There has been an increase from 54% in 1997 to 75% in 2009 in the percentage of people who had heard of daily drinking limits

• In 2009, there were 6,584 deaths directly related to alcohol, a 3% decrease on the 2008 figure. Of these alcohol-related deaths, the majority (4,154) died from alcoholic liver disease.

• It is estimated that the cost of alcohol-related harm to the NHS in England is £2.7 billion in 2006/07 prices

The full report can be viewed at www.ic.nhs.uk/pubs/alcohol11