The number of patients needing hospital treatment for drinking too much has more than doubled in 11 years, shocking new figures reveal.
Official data showed there were 207,788 NHS hospital admissions in England in 2006/07 with a primary or secondary diagnosis related to alcohol.
This figure, relating to all age groups, has more than doubled from the 93,459 recorded in 1995/96.
It is also up 7% on the 193,637 figure for 2005/06.
The data was released by the NHS Information Centre for health and social care.
A breakdown showed there were 57,142 NHS hospital admissions with a primary diagnosis specifically related to alcohol in 2006/07.
This number has risen by 52% since 1995/96. Of these admissions, 4,888 (9%) involved youngsters under the age of 18.
In 2007, 112,267 prescription items for drugs for treating alcohol dependency were also prescribed by doctors, the data showed.
This is an increase of… Read the full story