Booze puts 100 in hospital every day

MORE than 100 Scots every day were treated in hospital for alcohol abuse last year in a growing booze crisis.

A report shows there were 38,370 alcoholrelated stays in Scotland’s general and psychiatric hospitals in 2018-19 – the equivalent of 105 a day.

The figures, from NHS Scotland, relate to admissions ‘entirely due to alcohol’ and were up almost 200 on the previous year.

Scottish Labour’s health spokesman Monica Lennon said: ‘Alcohol misuse continues to be a huge problem in Scotland, affecting people from all backgrounds, and the high number of alcoholrelated hospital admissions is a cause for concern.

‘More community-based treatment and support services for individuals and their families are badly needed.’

The majority of patients – 93 per cent – admitted with alcohol-related conditions were treated in general acute hospitals, the remainder in psychiatric hospitals.

Problems included acute intoxication, alcoholic liver disease and the effects of withdrawal.

People in Scotland’s most deprived areas were six times more likely to be admitted to general acute hospitals for an alcoholrelated condition than those in the least deprived areas, at 1,059 per 100,000 population compared to 167.

Men were 2.5 times more likely than women to be admitted for such conditions, at 971 per 100,000 population compared to 377.

Among men, the 55-64 age group was worst affected. For women, it was the 45-54 age group.

A Scottish Government spokesman said its controversial alcohol minimum unit pricing policy – set at 50p on a unit of alcohol – was aimed at tackling the issue.

Introduced in May 2018, it aimed to raise the price of the cheapest, strongest drinks such as white cider.

The spokesman said: ‘Scotland experiences high levels of alcohol-related harm.

‘However, earlier this year, an independent report showed a 3 per cent decrease in the volume of pure alcohol sold per adult in Scotland in 2018. This followed the introduction of minimum unit pricing.

‘Though a fall in sales is encouraging, it will take longer for the impact of reduced consumption to feed through to... hospital admissions.

‘We will review the level of the minimum unit price after two years to ensure it delivers the desired outcomes.’