The information is not available in the format requested. Estimates of the proportion of adults (aged 16 and over) in Great Britain, who have discussed drinking with their general practitioner or another medical person, are available from the Office for National Statistics Omnibus Survey. Estimated proportions are based on all drinkers. Questions on alcohol are included in the Omnibus Survey biennially and the data is provided in table 1 for 2004 and 2006.
The number of alcohol related illnesses is not available in the format requested. Data are available providing the number of adults, aged 16 and over, admitted to national health service hospitals in England with a primary or secondary diagnosis that is specifically related to alcohol consumption. These figures are presented in table 2 and are published in “Statistics on Alcohol: England 2007” produced by The Information Centre for health and social care, available at: www.ic.nhs.uk/pubs/alcohol07. Numbers of those admitted with a diagnosis of an accident, illness or disease that does not specifically relate to alcohol but can be attributed to alcohol consumption are not currently available.
Table 1 Discussion of drinking in the last year, by gender, 2004 and 2006—Great BritainPercentage1Discussed drinking with:20042006Men2GP811Someone else at the surgery12Doctor elsewhere11Other medical person elsewhere12Not discussed drinking8986Women2GP55Someone else at the surgery11Doctor elsewhere11Other medical person elsewhere11Not discussed drinking9292BasesMen1,3841,017Women1,6451,156 1 Percentages may sum to more than 100 per cent. as respondents could give more than one answer2 Aged 16 and over3 Percentages are based on respondents who drink alcoholSource: Drinking: Adults’ behaviour and knowledge in 2006. Office for National Statistics
Number 2004-05 2005-06 Primary diagnosis 48,082 52,271 Primary or secondary diagnosis 164,787 187,643 1 The data include private patients in NHS hospitals (but not private patients in private hospitals) 2 A finished in-year admission is the first period of in-patient care under one consultant within one healthcare provider, excluding admissions beginning before 1 April at the start of the data year. Please note that admissions do not represent the number of in-patients, as a person may have more than one admission within the year 3 Aged 16 and over 4 The primary diagnosis is the first of up to 14 diagnosis fields in the Hospital Episode Statistics (HES) data set and provides the main reason why the patient was in hospital 5 The figures for primary or secondary diagnosis represent a count of all finished in-year admissions where the diagnosis was mentioned in any of the 14 diagnosis fields in a HES record 6 Figures have not been adjusted for shortfalls in data 7 Figures do not include hospital admissions for accidents, illnesses or diseases that do not directly relate to alcohol consumption but can be attributed to alcohol consumption Source: Hospital Episode Statistics. The Information Centre, 2007