Deaths from alcohol and drugs are soaring in England and Wales, official data suggests.
Fatalities from substance abuse rose to almost 13,000 in England and in excess of 800 in Wales in 2022.
Both figures represent significant rises compared to pre-pandemic figures, when the tally was 10,511 and 667 respectively.
Experts have blamed excess boozing during the Covid pandemic as well as increasing opiate abuse — including heroin and prescription drugs — for blighting the lives of Britons.
The latest figures from the Office for National Statistics (ONS) show that overall one in five deaths in England and Wales were considered avoidable in 2022, the most recent year where complete records are available.
Fatalities from substance abuse have continued to soar compared to pre-pandemic with 25.9 deaths per 100,000 in England in 2022, and 30.2 per 100,000 in Wales (stock image)
This Office for National Statistics chart shows how avoidable deaths have decreased in 2022 compared to the previous year but are still higher then pre-pandemic
Cancer remains England and Wales’s biggest avoidable cause of death, but it still on an overall decline. However deaths from alcohol and drugs are on the rise in both nations
Avoidable deaths are those that the ONS considers either preventable or treatable among people under the age of 75.
Examples include those from vaccine-preventable disease like whooping cough or those where a cancer patient might have had a potentially different outcome had they received treatment earlier.
England recorded 12,916 avoidable drug and alcohol deaths in 2022. This was up from 12,549 the previous year and up 10,511 pre-pandemic.
Ian Hamilton, an addiction expert at the University of York, told MailOnline he suspected the rise is due to excess alcohol consumption from the Covid lockdowns catching up on people.
‘The rise in deaths due to alcohol are as a result of excess consumption during the Covid pandemic,’ he said.
‘We know that a significant proportion of the population increased their consumption of alcohol during this period in part to cope with lockdown and stress.’
Studies have suggested a quarter of people increased their alcohol intake during lockdown with people with an existing drinking problem thought to be hit the hardest.
And ONS data itself has shown alcohol-related deaths soared to an all-time high in Covid’s wake.
Dr Richard Piper, chief executive of Alcohol Change UK, today labelled the rise ‘hugely concerning’.
He added that while the pandemic had certainly played a role, other pressures had also contributed to the problem.
‘The cost-of-living crisis has also had a huge effect on so many lives with heavy drinkers affected the most.’
Dr Piper said more must be done to curb the negative impact of alcohol on people’s lives and called for measures like minimum unit pricing and advertising restrictions.
Mr Hamilton added that alcohol was only part of the picture, with drug use remaining an issue — particularly abuse of both illicit and prescription opiates such as painkillers.
‘The main drug contributing to deaths continues to be opiates, heroin in particular, there is an ageing cohort of people who are dependent on heroin and dying prematurely due to physically related problems,’ he said.
Cancer remained the biggest cause of avoidable deaths in the ONS report.
England recorded 37,006 such death in 2022, while Wales recorded 2,536.
While this is an overall decrease since 2001 when combined avoidable deaths from the disease was about 43,000, experts said NHS cancer treatment delays meant too many people were dying needlessly.
NHS England data shows that only 66.6 per cent of cancer patients in April started treatment within 62 days of their original referral. The target is 85 per cent.
Across the border in Labour run Wales only 60.5 per of cancer patients started treatment within 62 days, compared to the 75 per cent target.
Professor Karol Sikora, an oncologist with over 40 years’ experience, said the while the overall reduction in deaths was thanks to decades of improved cancer care there was still work to be done.
He said many more lives could be saved if the NHS not only met its cancer targets but reformed them.
‘The biggest gain will come from speeding up the diagnosis to first treatment times,’ he added.
‘The 62-day diagnosis to treatment target is not fit for purpose — it should be 14 days.’
Overall ONS data for 2022 showed there were 117,498 avoidable deaths in England and 8,114 in Wales.
This is a reduction from the previous year when England recorded 130,641 such deaths, and Wales 8,854.
However, avoidable deaths are still higher than in 2019, the last year of data before the Covid pandemic struck.
Figures for that year recorded only 108,330 avoidable deaths in England and 7,729 in Wales.
Commenting on the overall avoidable mortality figures Veena Raleigh, senior fellow of the thinktank The King’s Fund, said the data was ‘damning’.
‘This is both a damning indictment of the quality of our public health policies and healthcare services, and yet more evidence of the poor and deteriorating state of the population’s health,’ she said.
‘Of the 9.4 million working age adults who are not in work, 2.8 million of these adults are unable to work due to long-term sickness.
‘With the NHS waiting list for treatments standing at over seven million, including over 400,000 people waiting for potentially life-saving heart care, and long waits to see a GP, the prognosis for improved population health in the short to medium term looks bleak.’
She added that public health budgets being cut, and the ‘under-resourced’ NHS were having devastating consequences.
‘This heavy burden of avoidable ill health and mortality has devastating consequences for individuals, families, communities and the economy,’ she said.
‘Preventing ill-health and reducing premature deaths is surely one of the biggest challenges of our age.’
Source: Mail Online
