Hospital Episode Statistics [HES] for 2012/13 published today show that there were 295,000 hospital admissions wholly attributable to alcohol in England. This represents a slight fall of 9% on 2011/12 (a record high 304,000), but the figure is 24% higher than in 2008/09 (237,820), the year when the measure was first calculated.
The total number of admissions to hospitals in England remained relatively flat over the 12-month period; there were 15.1 million Finished Admission Episodes (FAEs) recorded in 2012-13, an 0.8% increase on 2011-12. Since 2008-09, the number of admissions directly caused by alcohol has risen at almost twice the rate of the total number of hospital admissions (just over 12%).
A summary report of this year’s HES data can be accessed at the HSCIC website.