THE NUMBER of people going to hospital with alcohol related injuries and illnesses has risen by more than 50 per cent in five years.

And one in five Oxfordshire adults drinks over the recommended amount.

But according to health bosses, no one is ‘ready to hear the message’ about the damage that drinking is doing to their health.

In 2005-2006, some 6,000 Oxfordshire hospital admissions were attributable to alcohol.

Last year, that had risen to well over 9,000.

The largest proportion of alcohol related admissions were for conditions such as cataracts, heart rhythm problems, unspecified chest pain, urinary tract infections, and cancers associated with drinking.

The figures have been released by county public health director Dr Jonathan McWilliam in his fifth annual public health report.

Each day this week the Oxford Mail is profiling what Dr McWilliam identifies as the main concerns for Oxfordshire’s health over the coming 12 months.

In his report Dr McWilliam said: “All indications are that levels of drinking are gradually rising and that services are expending more money and more effort to respond to the results in terms of ill-health, accidents and crime.”

Men who drink more than three to four units per day and women who drink two to three units a day are putting themselves at risk of developing alcohol related illnesses.

A report by alcohol dependency service Turning Point revealed parents made up half of the 12,248 people who turned to them for help last year. It found the average alcohol consumption of parents with an ‘alcohol dependency problem’ was 30 units per day, 10 times recommended limits. The average was 24 for mothers and 33 for fathers – the equivalent of three bottles of wine or up to 15 pints of beer.

The Oxford University Hospitals Trust (OUH) has given out leaflets and flyers about the dangers of drinking, in a bid to cut the number of admissions ahead of Christmas. It includes advice such as ‘eat before you go out, and while you are drinking’ and ‘don’t drink in rounds as you’ll tend to drink more’.

Dr Mc William added: “This topic should be a priority for Oxfordshire and the real solution is through prevention – that means persuading people of all ages to drink sensibly.

“However, it is often said that ‘there is a tide in the affairs of men’, and all the indications are that society as a whole is not yet ready to hear this message.

“It is highly unlikely that in the current climate the public sector can push back against the wave of cheap booze, relaxed licensing laws and a culture which subtly condones drinking.”

Tomorrow, in the last of the series of reports, the Oxford Mail will focus on the threat of killer diseases to Oxfordshire.