Brits.... booze and bingeing equates to third of a million ending up in A&E

According to recently released figures the number of people taken to hospital because of alcohol abuse has soared in Britain over the past five years.

The Department of Health statistics due to be officially released this week show that the number of men admitted as drink-related emergency cases in England rose by 27.3% between 2001/02 and 2005/06, while among women over the same period, there was a 28.9% rise in admissions.

These latest figures come two years after 24-hour drinking was brought in and the problem appears to be worst in the North East of the country.

According to the report the number of men in England admitted to hospital with drink-related problems rose from 714 per 100,000 in 2001-02 to 909 per 100,000 in 2005-06.

Over the same period, the number of women admitted rose from 396 per 100,000 to 510 per 100,000, a rise of 28.9 per cent.

Professor Ian Gilmore, of the Royal College of Physicians says Britain has a serious alcohol problem and measures to date to deal with the situation have had no discernible effect.

Top of the statistics was the North East region with 9 of the 10 areas with the highest number of alcohol-related emergency admissions; these included Liverpool, Manchester and Middlesbrough.

They were followed closely by the North West; the region with the best record was the east and south of England.

The figures equate to more than a third of a million people being taken to hospital each year because of excessive drinking.

Professor Gilmore suggests that increasing the cost of drinking could have the most immediate effect and has called for the government to review drink promotions and availability.

The statistics come from patient records kept by each NHS hospital and include people taken to A&E because of their own or someone else's drinking and among them are victims of assault, people in accidents or poisoned through drink, and those with liver cirrhosis.

Professor Mark Bellis, director of the Centre for Public Health at Liverpool John Moores University, which compiled the information, says the figures show an increase in alcohol problems in the population.

Professor Bellis says the problem is not restricted to just younger people binge drinking as large numbers of people of all ages are simply drinking too much.

The Department of Health says almost two million people were now drinking at levels known to be harmful.