Updated press notice issued 27 May 2011 to correct the quote from The NHS Information Centre's chief executive Tim Straughan which incorrectly referred to the number of ‘people admitted to hospital' when it should have referred to the number of ‘admissions to hospital'.

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 per cent 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 per cent) 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 per cent on the 2009 figure (£2.38 million) and up 40 per cent 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 six per cent on 2009 (150,445) and an increase of 56 per cent 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 data on alcohol related hospital admissions and new data on prescriptions is published in today's report, along with previously published information from a range of sources about drinking behaviours and health outcomes in England.

The NHS Information Centre chief executive Tim Straughan said: “Today's report shows the number 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 savings for the NHS.”

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

ENDS

Notes to editors

1. The NHS Information Centre for health and social care (The NHS IC) is England's authoritative, central, independent source of health and social care information. It works with a wide range of health and social care providers nationwide to provide the facts and figures that help the NHS and social services run effectively. Its role is to collect data, analyse it and convert it into useful information which helps providers improve their services and supports academics, researchers, regulators and policymakers in their work. The NHS IC also produces a wide range of statistical publications each year across a number of areas including: primary care, health and lifestyles, screening, hospital care, population and geography, social care and workforce and pay statistics.

2. This statistical report presents a range of information on alcohol use and misuse which are drawn together from a variety of published sources and includes additional analysis undertaken by the NHS Information Centre for health and social care which is presented in a user friendly format. The report presents a broad picture of health issues relating to alcohol in England and covers topics such as drinking habits and behaviours among adults (aged 16 and over) and school children (aged 11 to 15), drinking-related mortality, affordability of alcohol and alcohol-related costs. Most of the data contained in the report have been published previously including information from obtained from the following sources: General Lifestyle Survey, Living Costs and Food Survey (Family Food module), Smoking, drinking and drug use among young people in England, Infant Feeding Survey, Health Survey for England, Adult Psychiatric Morbidity Survey and ONS Mortality statistics.

3. Some of the data presented here at England level, was previously published at GB level.

4. 2003 is used as a comparison year as this is the first year of the time series within the Statistics on Alcohol: England reports

5. Where references are made to regions in England, these refer to Strategic Health Authority areas.

6. Alcohol related hospital admissions include all conditions that are wholly attributable to alcohol and a proportion of those due to conditions that are partly attributable to alcohol. Partly attributable conditions are estimates only and refer to those where some, but not all admissions, are as a result of alcohol consumption. Data includes activity in English NHS hospitals and the independent sector.

7. The number of prescription items is not the same as the number of prescriptions. Prescriptions are written on a prescription form. Each single item written on the form is counted as a prescription item. Prescription data in this report relates to items prescribed in primary care settings or NHS hospitals in England and dispensed in the community within the United Kingdom.

8. The cost to the NHS of alcohol dependency referred to in this press release is based solely on the total Net Ingredient Cost (NIC) of prescription items dispensed for the treatment of alcohol dependency. NIC is the basic cost of a drug and does not take account of discounts, dispensing costs, fees or prescription charges income.

9. The NHS IC is currently running a consultation which aims to engage with the users of this report to understand how it is used and to improve its relevance and usefulness. We welcome feedback on the proposals contained within the consultation document, which is available at www.ic.nhs.uk/work-with-us/consultations/lifestyles-statistics-compendia-publications-consultation

10. For media enquires please call 0845 257 6990