HOSPITAL admissions for alcohol-related liver disease are on the increase in the district, new figures reveal.

Emergency admissions in the Airedale, Wharfedale, and Craven Clinical Commissioning Group (CCG) area, including Keighley, rose from 21.1 to 27.2 per 100,000 patients.

The figure, for GP-registered patients aged 18 or above, applies to the period between January and December last year, to the end of March.

The Bradford Districts CCG area, which includes Bingley and surrounding villages, saw an increase from 27.6 per 100,000 patients to 30.3.

The data relates to 33 patients observed in the Airedale, Wharfedale and Craven CCG and 76 patients in the Districts CCG.

All figures for the Bradford district are above the national average for England, at 24.1 per 100,000 patients, but below the average rate for West Yorkshire, which stood at 35.3 per 100,000 patients at the end of March this year, the fifth worst rate in the country.

In 2012, the total cost of alcohol-related treatment across Bradford district was estimated at £35 million, including £6.7m in A&E attendances and £7m in outpatients appointments, equating to £88 per adult.

Figures also showed that 138 people had died from alcohol-related causes, with 60 deaths due to chronic liver disease.

According to information from Bradford Council in February this year, it was approximated up to 92,000 people across the district could be drinking at “hazardous” levels.

Hilary McMullen, substance misuse commissioning manager at Bradford Council, said addressing the incidence of alcohol-related hospital admissions remained a high priority across the district.

“We have invested in alcohol care teams at both Bradford Royal Infirmary and Airedale General Hospital, the latter coming online in the last two years," she said.

“Patients who are admitted to hospital with an alcohol-related health problem are now being identified earlier on in their admission and referred to the alcohol care team to receive the help and advice they require to address their alcohol use.”

The new data, from the Health and Social Care Information Centre, shows that across England, hospitals admitted 10,500 cases of alcohol-related liver disease between April 2013 and March 2014, equating to more than 200 admissions every week.

Excessive drinking can lead to more than 40 different medical conditions, including cancer, stroke, hypertension, liver disease and heart disease.