Frontline services

The role alcohol plays in the North East is putting a huge strain on our frontline services. Police, paramedics, A&E staff, the fire brigade – they are all suffering at the hands of alcohol misuse.

• The North East has the highest rate of alcohol related hospital admissions in England - 35% higher than the national average.

• 50% of all violent crime is alcohol-related.

• Over half of domestic abuse cases handled by police in the region are alcohol related.

• Around half of all violent incidents take place at the weekend (when binge drinking is most prevalent), with 66% of stranger violence and wounding offences taking place between midnight and 6am.

• In 2009/10 the North East Ambulance Service recorded 10,063 ambulance journeys where alcohol was a factor, almost twice as many cases as all other drug overdoses combined. Evidence suggests that alcohol involvement is not always recorded by ambulance crew and the actual figure is more in the region of 30,000 cases or 10% of all ambulance journeys – costing over £9m to the NHS.

• Of the 3,004 patients who ended up at emergency departments following an episode of self harm, alcohol was cited as a contributory factor in 40% of cases.

• In 2007 there were a total of 560 casualties as a result of drink driving in the North East, 60 of which resulted in death or serious injury.
• More than a third of offenders being supervised by the National Offender Management Service in the North East are believed to be alcohol dependent.

• Between 2007/08 and 2009/10 – 1,709 under 18s in the North East were admitted to hospital for alcohol specific conditions such as alcohol poisoning.