More than 800,000 people are admitted to hospital each year with alcohol-related illnesses and injuries — four times the official figure

Alcohol hospital admissions four times higher than official figure
Article in the Telegraph

Extract:

"Figures will show that six per cent of all NHS admissions are in some way caused by drink, The Daily Telegraph can disclose. And the rate of visits to hospital over alcohol-related problems is rising by 10 per cent every year.

The figures indicate the true impact alcohol has on the NHS from accidents, violence and disease. They include for the first time estimates of the number of cancers caused by alcohol consumption as well as heart disease and strokes.

Alcohol is thought to cause about 17,000 cases of cancer a year and £2billion of NHS money is spent every year treating patients with alcohol-related diseases. Alan Johnson, the Health Secretary, believes “lifestyle” illnesses will put an increasing strain on the NHS unless people behave more responsibly.

Ministers fear that resources needed to tackle other diseases will have to be diverted if there is no change in behaviour.

A Department of Health source said: “It is important that we get the real figures so no one is in doubt about how widespread and potentially damaging alcohol-related illnesses are. The action can only be taken when the full scale of the problem is known.”

Labour has faced intense criticism over the introduction of 24-hour drinking in 2005.

Amid growing concerns about the level of alcohol-fuelled violence, pubs and nightclubs have been accused of flouting the laws on underage drinking. Last week figures showed that more than 600,000 children admit to drinking on a regular basis.

Supermarkets have faced repeated calls to ban discount alcohol, in particular deals in in which beer is cheaper than bottled water. And ministers are considering plans to tackle the problem, including cigarette-style health warnings on bottles and cans, a ban on “happy hours” where bars sell cut-price drinks and rules outlawing supermarket discounts.

Today’s announcement will strengthen calls for action."

The number of people admitted to hospital because of their drinking has doubled in just over a decade to reach more than 200,000, new figures show.

Alcohol fuelled admissions to hospital double in a decade

Extract from the Telegraph:

"The figure includes 8,500 under 18s who ended up in hospital because they were drunk, injured themselves through drink or developed a secondary condition because of alcohol, according to data from the National Health Service."

Britain is in the grip of a binge drinking epidemic...

Epidemic of drunk teenagers in hospital - Telegraph

Extracts:

"Britain is in the grip of a binge drinking epidemic, according to two official studies yesterday that showed alcohol-related hospital admissions have doubled in a decade while a third of teenagers regularly drink to excess.

The number of drunk teenagers admitted to hospital in England increased by more than a third in the past 10 years, from 3,870 in 1995/96 to 5,280 in 2005/06.

In the same period, the number of adults admitted to hospital after drinking excessively more than doubled -from 89,280 to 187,640.

The statistics, from the Information Centre for Health and Social Care, which collates data for the Department of Health, also showed that alcohol consumption among children aged between 11 and 13 has reached a record high."

"The figures came as doctors called for action on binge drinking. Delegates at the British Medical Association's conference in Torquay, voted for a ban on consuming alcohol in the street.

They also backed a call for a reduction in the drink-drive limit from 80mg to 50mg of alcohol per 100ml of blood.

Alcohol abuse is estimated to cost the country £20 billion a year through crime and damage to health.

Dr Vivienne Nathanson, the head of ethics at the BMA, said that too many children did not understand that alcohol was "an acute poison" when consumed excessively.

"We are not just talking about liver disease," she said. "People become violent, fall unconscious and become seriously dehydrated.

"We are seeing dehydrated people in their twenties who have had major strokes because they have drunk too much."

Norman Lamb, the Liberal Democrat health spokesman, accused the Government of ignoring the dangers of binge drinking."


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Doctors call for measures to reduce heavy drinking.

Doctors call for ban on drinking in street - Telegraph

Extract:

"A national ban on drinking in the street should be introduced to help defeat the binge-drinking culture, senior doctors will say next week.

Laws to increase the legal age for buying alcohol to 21 - except in pubs and hotels - and increases in tax on alcohol and advertising restrictions will also be proposed.

Delegates at the British Medical Association's annual conference will debate the suggestions on Tuesday.

There are already restrictions on drinking in the street in some parts of the country after councils were given powers in 2001 to designate public areas in which it is an offence to consume alcohol if asked not to do so by a police officer.

The BMA motion calls for total national prohibition.

This follows growing concern about the impact of binge drinking on the nation's health and the financial implications for the NHS and the taxpayer of alcohol-related disease.

A Government report this month to accompany its new alcohol strategy suggested that Britain has eight million problem drinkers. Liver disease is the fastest growing illness and hospital admissions have doubled in the past decade."

Alcohol is not the only, and not the main, cause of liver disease. - Prescribed drugs, frequently prescribed inappropriately, in far too high a dose and for far too long a period, cause massive damage to the liver and other organs of the body. The most harmful tend to be those which cause sodium and water retention - that is steroids, including prednisone and prednisolone, HRT, tricyclic antidepressants, most notably amitriptyline, other psychotropic drugs and, to a much smaller extent, many painkillers and other drugs. The most dangerous of these sodium retentive drugs - the steroids, HRT and tricyclic antidepressants - should never be prescribed without a warning to avoid eating salt/sodium while on the medication. This warning is seldom, if ever, given...)o: The effect of the sodium retention is to turn sodium in food (usually encountered as salt) into a very slow poison for the unfortunate victims/patients of the negligent prescribing. - See http://www.wildeaboutsteroids.co.uk/steroids.html and http://www.wildeaboutsteroids.co.uk/ami.html and http://www.wildeaboutsteroids.co.uk/story.html

You can protect your liver by only taking drugs if they are absolutely necessary, taking them at the lowest dose necessary, and taking them for the shortest period of time necessary, and by avoiding salt and salty food. See http://www.wildeaboutsteroids.co.uk/sodium_foods.html

Lose weight by eating less salt! - Go on! - Try it! - You will feel so much better!
See my website http://www.wildeaboutsteroids.co.uk/
Read my Mensa article on Obesity and the Salt Connection
(The site does not sell anything and has no banners or sponsors or adverts - just helpful information.)

Binge-drinking harms women's brains more than it does men's brains.

Women's brains hit hardest by alcohol - Telegraph

Extract:

"Binge-drinking harms women's brains more than it does men's, according to research published yesterday.

Tests suggest that excessive drinking undermines cognitive abilities such as memory, problem solving and planning more rapidly in women.

Previous studies have shown women who become dependent on alcohol suffer more rapid damage to the liver, heart and muscles than men. The new research, published in the May issue of the journal Alcoholism: Clinical & Experimental Research, found female alcoholics may also sustain greater brain damage than male alcoholics.

James Garbutt, professor of psychiatry and research scientist at Bowles Center for Alcohol Studies, University of North Carolina, said: "Our study reveals that excessive alcohol can reduce one's intellectual abilities. "

Do your brain - and your liver and your heart - a favour! - As well as avoiding excessive drinking, cut down on your salt intake. - See http://www.wildeaboutsteroids.co.uk/conditions.html

Lose weight by eating less salt! Go on! - Try it! - You will feel so much better!
See my website www.wildeaboutsteroids.co.uk
(The site does not sell anything and has no banners or sponsors or adverts - just helpful information.)

Thousands of traumatised soldiers have been denied payouts because Government-approved insurance scheme doesn't cover long-term psychological illness

Mentally ill troops denied pay-out by the Army's approved insurers - Sunday Telegraph

Extracts:

"Thousands of traumatised soldiers have been denied payouts because a Government-approved insurance scheme does not cover long-term psychological illnesses.

Troops medically discharged from the military after developing combat-related mental illnesses such as post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) do not receive compensation from the Pax insurance scheme, which is described to soldiers as "your best defence against the unexpected". Pax is owned by Aon Ltd, one of the five biggest insurance companies in the world.

The chance of developing a psychological illness after serving in combat operations is now greater than at any time since the Korean War half a century ago. Government figures show that more than 2,100 soldiers have returned from Iraq since 2003 suffering from some form of mental illness. Afghanistan will have produced further such casualties.

All forces personnel are encouraged to take out insurance before they deploy on military operations. Most choose the Pax policy because it is approved by the Ministry of Defence.
Although the policy states in the small print of its terms and conditions that it does not include cover for post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) or psychiatric illness, serving officers claim that such stipulations are rarely, if ever, spelled out to -soldiers."

"Up to 328 servicemen and women returned from Iraq with PTSD, which can lead to manic depression. Another 227 were diagnosed with other neurotic disorders. A further 188 had taken part in "psychoactive substance misuse", including alcohol and drug abuse, and the abuse of antidepressants."