Pandemic causes a surge in deaths in Staffs linked to alcohol

DEATHS caused by alcohol hit a 15-year high in Staffordshire during the pandemic.

Charities warned the pandemic along with financial pressures and social isolation caused by lockdown - had led some people to drink more heavily, while at the same time treatment services were disrupted.

Across the area, there were 139 alcohol-specific deaths in 2020, according to new figures from the Office for National Statistics.

That was up from 100 in 2019, and was the highest number recorded since figures began in 2006.

Alcohol-specific deaths only include those health conditions where each death is a direct consequence of alcohol misuse (so, wholly attributable causes such as alcoholic liver disease).

More broadly, alcohol was a contributing factor in 384 deaths across Staffordshire in 2020, up from 348 the year before.

In 2020, there were 8,974 alcohol-specific deaths across the UK. That was a 19 per cent increase compared with 2019 (7,565 deaths) and the highest year-on-year increase since the data time series began in 2001.

Data from Public Health England collected during the pandemic show that while there was higher levels of abstinence from alcohol since the first national lockdown, there was also an increase in those reporting higher levels of drinking (greater than 35 units per week).

Dr Richard Piper of Alcohol

Change UK, said: “As many as one in four of us drank more in 2020, and may have found ourselves with new habits that are hard to break.

“Any one of us can find ourselves drinking harmfully. And every one of us deserves to live a full life free from the harm caused by alcohol, and to have highquality, early support if we do find ourselves struggling.”