UK: Alcohol abuse costing health service £3bn a year
Alcohol abuse is costing the UK's National Health Service up to £3bn a year, through over 28,000 hospital admissions caused by alcohol dependence or poisoning, officials have warned. It is estimated that one in six people attending the accident and emergency units has alcohol-related injurues and 33,000 deaths a year a linked to drink. Some experts are even suggesting that the sheer cost of this treatment could deal the NHS a terminal blow.