Surrey’s boozers are top of a shameful league table - there are more hazardous drinkers in the county than anywhere else in the country.
Worryingly the largest percentage of Surrey drinkers who are consuming levels of alcohol that cause physical and psychological harm are women aged from 18 to 24.
Seven out of Surrey’s 11 districts are in the top ten boroughs for hazardous drinking in England with one in six residents are drinking at levels that could become dangerous.
In a Surrey alcohol survey males aged 65 and over reported drinking alcohol most frequently while males aged 55-64 reported drinking the greatest quantity of alcohol in a week .
Alcohol related hospital admissions in Surrey have doubled since 2002 and could triple by 2013 and it is estimated that over 213,000 people countywide drink at hazardous levels while 34,530 drink at harmful levels..
Dr Ruth Milton, Surrey’s Director of Public Health, said: “Many people think of Surrey as an affluent county with good health, little crime and a high standard of living.
"The reality is that Surrey has greater hazardous drinking levels than anywhere else in the country.
"We are seeing alcohol related hospital admissions rising year on year and alcohol related crime is a big problem for many of our boroughs."
Last year NHS Surrey ran the Big Drink Debate, a public survey looking at alcohol consumption. More than 4,000 people responded and it led to an alcohol strategy launched last week to bring the problem under control.
Dr Milton added:“Alcohol is part of our culture, and our plans are all about ensuring that we drink safely and sensibly."
There are many areas of people’s lives which can be severely affected by alcohol, whether its domestic abuse, a child’s understanding of what alcohol is, the long term health effects or simply how much is safe to drink in units”
Men should not regularly drink more than three to four units of alcohol per day and women should not regularly drink more than two to three units of alcohol per day.
Alcohol misuse is associated with as many as 20,000 premature deaths in the UK each year and is also associated with crime and disorder, particularly violent crime including domestic abuse and assault and anti-social behaviour.
It has been estimated that alcohol misuse costs society up to £25.1 billion a year Hazardous (increasing risk) drinking is drinking above recognised sensible levels, but not yet experiencing harm (measured by consumption of between 22 and 50 units per week for males and between 15 and 35 units per week for females.
Harmful (high risk) drinking is drinking above recognised sensible levels and experiencing harm, such as an alcohol-related accident, acute alcohol poisoning, hypertension, cirrhosis (measured by consumption of over 50 units per week for males and over 35 units per week for females).
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