NEW figures have shown a worrying rise in Harlow residents visiting hospital for alcohol-related illnesses.

The UK addiction Treatment Group has released an analysis of admissions to hospitals which involve hospital problems and which reveals an increase in cases from the town.

In 2012/13 there were 1,790 cases – by 2018/19 that had risen to 2,080.

Full figures

2012/13: 1790
2013/14: 1670
2014/15: 1830
2015/16: 1760
2016/17: 1706
2017/18: 1790
2018/19: 2080

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

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 East of England 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.”

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Overall picture in the United Kingdom

Drinking alcohol was the main reason for 358,000 admissions to hospital in 2018/19 according to new figures published by NHS Digital today.

The number of admissions is 6% higher than 2017/18 and 19% higher than a decade ago, according to the Statistics on Alcohol, England 2020.

Alcohol-related admissions accounted for 2% of overall hospital admissions, which is the same rate as 2017/18.

Men accounted for 62% of alcohol admissions, while 40% of patients were aged between 45 and 64.

These figures are based on the narrow measure where an alcohol-related disease, injury or condition was the primary reason for a hospital admission or there was an alcohol-related external cause.

A broader measure that looks at a range of other conditions that could be caused by alcohol shows 1.3 million admissions in 2018/19, this is an 8% increase on 2017/18 and represents 7% of all hospital admissions.

Other figures included in the report show:

There were 5,698 deaths specifically attributed to alcohol in 2018, this is 2% fewer than in 2017
77% of alcohol related deaths happened in people aged 40 to 69
38% of men and 19% of women aged 55 to 64 usually drank over 14 units of alcohol in a week.
The average household spent £8.70 per week on alcohol in 2017/184
People aged 65 to 74 had the highest average weekly alcohol spend of £10.60 a week.