4 July 2019: Responding to the National Addiction Centre’s paper on ‘The prevalence of wholly attributable alcohol conditions in the United Kingdom hospital system: a systematic review, meta-analysis and meta-regression’ Professor Sir Ian Gilmore, Chair of the Alcohol Health Alliance UK, said:
“It’s worrying to see such high levels of alcohol dependence among hospital patients. Alcohol causes substantial harms to families and communities across the UK and costs the NHS around £3.5 billion each year.
More than 80 people die of alcohol-related causes across the UK every day, and there are more than one million alcohol-related hospital admissions every year, in England alone. This puts considerable pressure on the NHS, as well as other public services. “We are urging the Government to prioritise reducing the harm alcohol causes. The Government needs to take action and introduce targeted, evidence-based measures, including minimum unit pricing, to raise the price of the cheapest, strongest alcohol products, which would help to tackle the alcohol-related harms people are experiencing.”