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A near doubling in the number of high-risk drinkers during the lockdown has led to warnings that addiction services in England are struggling to cope and urgently need additional funding.
The Royal College of Psychiatrists analyzed data from Public Health England showing that the prevalence of people who drink at higher risk was almost a fifth (19%) in June, up from 10.8% in February.
Using population estimates from the Office for National Statistics, the university said the June figure equaled more than 8.4 million people, an increase from about 4.8 million four months earlier. Higher risk consumption is defined as drinking more alcohol than the recommended levels of no more than 14 units per week for men and women.
Dr Adrian James, president of the Royal College of Psychiatrists, said the government must commit to making a substantial investment in public health to prevent more lives from being “unnecessarily lost” to addiction.
A university report, released Tuesday, calls on ministers to reverse the cuts and help local authorities work to invest £ 374 million in adult services to address the increased need for treatment.
The organization said the increase in alcohol use comes alongside an increase in people seeking help for opioid addiction, referring to statistics from the National Drug Treatment Monitoring System showing that new adult cases in April they increased by about a fifth over the same period last year and at their highest level since 2015.
The university warns that cuts made to addiction services since 2013/14 mean that more people in need of help could miss out on life-saving treatment.
James said: “Addiction services have been starved of funding in recent years, which means that many are unable to treat and care for the large number of high-risk drinkers.
“More lives will be unnecessarily lost to addiction unless the government acts now and commits to making a substantial investment in public health, including addiction services for adults, in the spending review.
“I urge the government to implement the recommendations in our report that would see mental health services expand to be the largest in Europe, with a much-needed focus on tackling inequalities.”
Professor Julia Sinclair, president of the university’s addiction faculty, said: “Covid-19 has shown how limited, under-resourced and ill-equipped addiction services are to treat the growing number of vulnerable people living with this complex disease. .
“There are now only five NHS inpatient units in the country and there is no resource in my region to admit alcohol dependent people with coexisting mental illnesses.
“Drug-related deaths and alcohol-related hospital admissions were already at record highs before Covid-19. I fear that unless the government acts quickly, we will see these numbers increase exponentially. “
