Somerset: Drunk But Not In Charge
James Garrett looks at a much praised new service opening at Musgrove Hospital. But asks if the need for the new service, which is very real, reflects a failure elsewhere in the system?
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Somerset: Drunk But Not In Charge
The creation of a new service at Taunton's Musgrove Park Hospital to help patients struggling with alcohol dependency has spotlighted the sheer scale of the bother with booze in Somerset.
One in five adults in the county drinks at levels which damage their health, according to the Somerset Foundation NHS Trust's alcohol care service.
Hospital admissions for alcohol-related conditions in the county amount to 668 per 100,000 people - significantly above the national average of 537 per 100,000.
This, Somerset Council acknowledges, puts the county 41st out of 150 local authorities. However, a spokesperson claimed, "On two other methods of measuring hospital admissions linked to alcohol, Somerset has lower rates than the national average."