Minister: Alcohol abuse in govt's firing line
Thursday, 22 May 2008 13:11
The government has insisted it is doing all it can to counteract the rising prevalence of alcohol dependency in England.
Health minister Dawn Primarolo said the Department of Health was "working harder than ever" to help those who regularly drink too much.
She was responding to figures from the NHS Information Centre that showed alcohol-related hospital admissions had more than doubled between 1995/96 and 2006/07.
The statistics showed in 2006/07 there were 207,800 admissions, compared to 93,500 a decade previously.
"The NHS spends £217 million a year on specialist alcohol treatment and I have just launched a £6 million campaign to make sure people know their units and know how much they're drinking," Ms Primarolo added.