Alcohol

Level of need

Alcohol-specific hospital admissions

In the year 2023/24 the rate of hospital admissions of North Tyneside residents for alcohol-specific conditions was 1,284 per 100,000, following an increasing trend. Hospital admission rates in North Tyneside are higher than both the England and North East average, as shown in Figure 1. For the same year the England rate was 581 per 100,000, less than half the North Tyneside rate.[1]

Figure 1: Rate of Hospital Admissions for alcohol-specific conditions in patients aged 18 and over 2016/17-2023/24.[2]


A line graph showing the rate of admissions by year for North Tyneside, England, and North East from 16/17 to 23/24.The graph features three lines: an orange line representing North Tyneside, a blue line representing England, and a green line representing North East.

The most recent data for alcohol-specific hospital admissions in under 18’s shows that the rate in North Tyneside is 76 per 100,000. Similar to adults, this is significantly higher than the England average, which is 23 per 100,000 for the same time period.18 For this age group, North Tyneside has the highest rate in the country. However, exploring this further, this rate only relates to a small number of individuals, many of which only had a single admission episode.

There is evidence that a large proportion of individuals have had multiple alcohol-specific hospital admissions. Although there were 1,948 alcohol-specific admissions during the year 2024, just 1,117 individuals account for these admissions due to a number of people being admitted on more than one occasion. 774 (63.9%) of patients were admitted just once during 2024 for alcohol-specific conditions whilst the remaining 343 (30.7%) of patients were admitted on at least two occasions. 168 patients (15.0%) were admitted on two occasions, 69 (6.2%) on three occasions and 39 patients (3.5%) on four occasions.

67 (6.0%) patients were admitted five or more times with alcohol-specific conditions during 2024 and the total number of admissions for these 67 patients was 475 admissions. This group therefore accounted for just under a quarter (24.4%) of the 1,948 alcohol specific admissions in 2024.[3]

Alcohol-related morbidity

There are more than 60 alcohol-related conditions (including cancer, cardiovascular disease, depression, and liver disease) many of which may result in hospital admission. These are different to alcohol-specific conditions and are known as alcohol-related conditions. There is generally good understanding of some of the conditions which drinking alcohol is linked to, with the 2024 Balance survey showing that at least two thirds (67%) of the surveyed residents, from the North East region, being aware that drinking alcohol increased the risk of developing physical ill health. This was similar for mental ill health, with 64% of those surveyed recognising the association between alcohol consumption and mental health.[4] 

A large proportion of alcohol-related hospital admissions are due to alcohol-related cardiovascular disease (CVD). OHID data from 2023/24 shows that there were 2,578 admissions to hospital due to alcohol-related CVD, continuing an increasing trend. This equates to a rate of 1,139 hospital admissions per 100,000 of the population and was considerably higher than the England rate of 837 admissions per 100,000 and was also higher than the North East rate.

Figure 2: Rate of Hospital Admissions due to alcohol-related cardiovascular disease 2016/17-2023/24.


A line graph showing the rate of admissions for alcohol-related CVD per year for North Tyneside, England, and North East from 16/17 to 23/24. The x-axis ranges from the year 16/17 to 23/24, and the y-axis ranges from 250 to 1250. The graph features three lines: an orange line representing North Tyneside, a blue line representing England, and a green line representing North East.

Alcohol-related cancer have been monitored nationally and related to new alcohol-related cancers of seven types:

  1. Mouth (lips, oral cavity)
  2. Pharynx (upper throat)
  3. Oesophageal (food pipe)
  4. Larynx (voice box)
  5. Breast
  6. Liver
  7. Colorectal (bowel)

 

The incidence trend has been relatively static both locally and nationally since 2012. The last published period of 2017-19 demonstrated an incidence rate of 39.4 per 100,000 locally which is lower than the North East rate of 40.1 but higher than the England rate of 38 per 100,000.18 By sex, the incidence rate is observed to be higher in males than females, with a rate of 42.6 per 100,00 for males from 2017-19 and 37.0 per 100,000 for females.

Alcohol-specific mortality

Alcohol-specific mortality refers to deaths which are a direct consequence of alcohol misuse, such as alcohol poisoning and alcoholic liver disease. 

National rates of alcohol-specific deaths between 2012 and 2019 remained stable but have sharply increased since the onset of the pandemic. Since then, the rate has continued to slowly increase, not returning to pre-pandemic levels. The most recent data, 2023, shows that the rate of alcohol-specific mortality in North Tyneside was 26.8 per 100,000. This was higher than the England average, at 15.0 per 100,000, but relatively similar to the North East.[5]

Figure 3: Rate for alcohol-specific mortality in North Tyneside, compared to England and the North East 2013-2023.


A line graph showing the mortality rate by year for North Tyneside, England, and North East from 2013 to 2023. The graph features three lines: an orange line representing North Tyneside, a blue line representing England, and a green line representing North East.

 

Treatment Services

The client group accessing alcohol treatment services often face multiple and complex needs. They are often individuals with entrenched dependencies who have likely faced health and social inequalities and can be heavily stigmatised. Relapse during treatment can also be common. These individuals therefore require substantial support in order to achieve recovery or abstinence from alcohol dependence and need a holistic, multi-agency approach including support with housing, education and employment.

In North Tyneside structured treatment for substance misuse is classified as:

  • Alcohol only
  • Opiate
  • Non-opiate
  • Alcohol and non-opiate

In 2023/24, 615 adults were receiving structured treatment for alcohol-only in North Tyneside. More of these were male (59%) than female (41%), which is the same proportions across England. Of these 615 individuals, 62% were new presentations to treatment (380) i.e. they had not had contact with NTRP previously. The number of new presentations has been decreasing for the last two years.[6] 

The most common referral route into the service continues to be via the individual, their family or friends (48%). Since 2020 there has been a decreasing rate of referral via self, family or friends and there has been an increasing trend in referrals from health services and social care. Figure 4 shows the different referral routes and the proportion of new presentations into treatment for each one.

Figure 4: Referral routes into the treatment service for individuals seeking help due to alcohol misuse by percentage.[7]


A bar chart comparing the sources of referral for North Tyneside, England, and North East. The categories on the x-axis are "Self, family & friends," "Health services and social care," "Criminal justice," "Substance misuse service," and "Other source of referral." The y-axis represents the number of referrals, ranging from 0 to 60. The bars are color-coded: orange for North Tyneside, blue for England, and green for North East. North Tyneside and North East have similar numbers of referrals across most categ

For the 2023/24 period 59% of the 380 new presentations to alcohol treatment services within North Tyneside successfully completed treatment, and there were 32% dropped out or left treatment. This was a similar percentage to England where 58% of individuals successfully completed treatment and 33% dropped our or left early. Males were more likely to have an early exit both within North Tyneside and England as a whole - 33% of males in North Tyneside left treatment early, compared to 29% of females.[7]

 


 

[1] Public Health England. Health matters: harmful drinking and alcohol dependence. 21st January 2016. Available from: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/health-matters-harmful-drinking-and-alcohol-dependence/health-matters-harmful-drinking-and-alcohol-dependence

[2] OHID. Fingertips. Public health profiles. Alcohol Profile. Available from: https://fingertips.phe.org.uk/profile/local-alcohol-profiles/data#page/1/gid/1938132984/pat/15/par/E92000001/ati/502/are/E08000022/yrr/1/cid/4/tbm/1 [Accessed 1st April 2025].

[3] North East and North Cumbria (NENC) Integrated Care Board (ICB) (North Tyneside) Business Intelligence. North Tyneside Alcohol Specific Admissions and A&E Attendances (Adults). Produced on 21st March 2025.

[4] Balance North East. Alcohol Perceptions Research. May 2024.

[5] National Drug Treatment Monitoring System. Adults in treatment North Tyneside. Available from: https://www.ndtms.net/ViewIt/Adult

[6] National Drug Treatment Monitoring System. Routes into treatment. Available from: https://www.ndtms.net/ViewIt/Adult

[7]National Drug Treatment Monitoring System. Outcomes of treatment received North Tyneside. Available from: https://www.ndtms.net/ViewIt/Adult